JLi  5   Zh 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON.     N.    J. 


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A 


COMMEI^TAEY  %.,,,., 


ON    THE 


HOLY    SCRIPTURES: 

CRITICAL,  DOCTRINAL,  AND  HOMILETICAL. 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  MINISTERS  AND  STUDENTS 


JOHK   PETEE   LAISTGE,  D.  D., 

OmDINABT  PBOnSSOB  OP  THEOLOGY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITT  OP  BONK, 
or  aownvnoK  wmt  a  numbbb  of  khinkht  kcropkah  Divunu 


TRANSLATED,   ENLARGED,   AND  EDITED 


PHILIP   SOHAFF,  D.  D., 

PBOFESSOR   OF  THEOLOGY   IN  THE  UNION   THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.   NEW   YOBK, 
IB  oomniCTioM    with   americax   soholars  or   various   bvanoelical    denomihatiovs. 


70^n(M£  XIV.  0¥  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT:  CONTAINING  THE  MINOR  PROPHETB^ 


KEW  YORK: 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

1899 


THt 


MINOR  PROPHETS 


KXEGETICALLY,  THEOLOGICALLY.   AliD   HOMILETICALLy 


EXPOUNDED 


PAUL   KLEINERT,   OTTO   vSCHMOLLEB, 

GEORGE   R.  BLISS,  TALBOT  W.  CHAMBERS,   CHARLES  ELLICTT. 

JOHN   FORSYTH,  J.  FREDERICK   Mc CURDY,   AND 

JOSEPH   PACKARD. 


EDITED  BY 

PHILIP   SCHAFF,  D.  D. 


NEW   YORK: 

CHARLES     SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

lb99 


BBterad  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  vear  1874,  «r 

ScHiBNER,  Armstrong,  akd  Company, 
IB  tlie  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washuutuw. 


Trow's 
Printing  and  Bookbinding  Company, 
205-213   F.ast  X'ztk  St., 
NEW    YORK. 


PREFACE  BY  THE   GENERAL  EDITOR 


The  volume  on  the  Minor  Prophets  is  partly  in  advance  of  the  German  original, 
which  has  not  yet  reached  the  three  post-exilian  Prophets.  The  commentaries  on  the  nine 
earb'er  Prophets  by  Professors  Kleinert  and  Schmoller  appeared  in  separate  numheri 
some  time  ago  ^ ;  but  for  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi,  Dr.  Lange  has  not,  to  this  date, 
been  able  to  secure  a  suitable  co-laborer. '^  With  his  cordial  approval  I  deem  it  better  to 
complete  the  volume  by  original  commentaries  than  indefinitely  to  postpone  the  publication. 
They  were  prepared  by  sound  and  able  scholars,  in  confonnity  with  the  plan  of  the  whole 
work. 

The  volume  accordingly  contains  the  following  parts,  each  one  being  paged  separately :  — 

1.  A  General  Introduction  to  the  Prophets,  especially  the  Minor  Prophets,  by 
Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  The 
general  introductions  of  Kleinert  and  Schmoller  are  too  brief  and  incomplete  for  our  purpose, 
and  therefore  I  requested  Dr.  Elliott  to  prepare  an  independent  essay  on  the  subject. 

2.  Hosea.  By  Rev.  Dr.  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  from  the  German  and  en- 
larged by  James  Frederick  McCtjrdy,  M.  A.,  of  Princeton.  N.  J. 

3.  Joel.  By  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  John  Forstth, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Chaplain  and  Professor  of  Ethics  and  Law  in  the  United  States  Military 
Academy,  West  Point,  N.  Y. 

4.  Amos.  By  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  Talbot  W 
Chambers,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  New  York. 

5.  Obadiah.  By  Rev.  Paul  Kleinert,  Professor  of  Old  Testament  Theology  in  the 
University  of  Berlin.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  George  R  Bliss,  D.  D.,  Professor 
in  the  University  of  Lewisburg,  Pennsylvania. 

6.  Jonah.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  the  University  of  Berlin.  Translated  and  en- 
larged by  Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  Chicago.' 

7.  Micah.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  Berlin,  and  Prof.  George  R.  Bliss,  of  Lein»* 
burg. 

8.  Nahum.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  Berlin,  and  Prof.  Charles  Elliott,  of 
Chicago. 

9.  Habakkuk.     By  Professors  Kleinert  and  Elliott. 

1  Obadjah,  Jonah,  Mieha,  Nahum,  Habakuh,  Zephanja/i.  Wissenshqfilich  undfOr  den  Gebraueh  der  Eirthe  aiugtUgt  ««• 
Paul  KuaKBaT,  Pfaner  zu  St.  Gertraud  und  a.  Professor  an  der  Univtrsitdt  zu  Berlin.  Bielefeld  n.  Leipzig,  1868.  —  DU 
Propheten  Hoxea,  Joel  und  Amos.  Theologiseh-homiletisch  bearbeitet  von  Otio  Sohmolub,  Lietnt.  der  Theologie,  Diaeonui 
m  Urach.  Bielef.  und  Leipzig,  1872. 

a  Tlie  eommentary  of  Rev.  W.  Pkbssel  on  these  three  Propheta  (Die  naehexOisehen  Propheten,  Qotha,  1870)  wa* 
originally  prepared  for  Lange's  Biblt'work,  but  was  rejected  by  Dr.  Lange  mainly  on  account  of  Pressel's  riews  on  th« 
genuineness  and  integrity  of  Zechariah.  It  was,  however,  independently  published,  and  waa  made  use  of,  like  oth« 
eommentaries,  by  the  authors  of  the  respective  sections  in  this  volume. 

«  Dr.  Elliott  desires  to  render  his  acknowledgments  to  the  Rev.  Reuben  Dederick,  of  Chicago,  and  the  Rev.  Jaeok 
liOtke,  of  Faribault,  Minnesota,  for  valuable  assistance  in  translating  some  diflloolt  paasages  in  Kleinert^  OmnmentenM 
•n  Jonah,  Nahum,  and  Habakkuk. 


PREFACE   BY   THE   GENERAL   EDIT(»R. 


10.  Zephaniah.     By  Professors  Kleinert  and  Elliott. 

11.  £[aggai.     By  James  Frederick  McCurdy,  M.  A.,  Princeton,  N.  J. 

12.  ZECHARL4.H  By  Rev.  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  D.  D.,  New  York.  (See  special 
preface.) 

18.  Malachi,  By  Rev.  Joseph  Packard,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  in 
the  Theological  Semiimry  at  Alexandria,  Virginia. 

The  contributors  to  this  volume  were  directed  carefully  to  consult  the  entire  ancient  and 
modern  literature  on  the  Minor  Prophets  and  to  enrich  it  with  the  latest  results  of  Grerman 
and  Anglo-American  scholarship. 

The  remaining  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  are  all  under  way,  and  will  be  published  aa 
fast  as  the  nature  of  the  work  will  permit. 

PHILIP   SCHAFF. 

Dmon  TiaoLoawM  Skxwa'w,  Nrw  Yoxa.  .%r,uary,  1874. 


THE 


BOOK  OF  NAHFM. 


EXPOimDED 


/ 

PAUL  KLEIJSTEET, 


VinOB  AT  ffl.  OKKTRAUB,  AND  PROFESSOR  OP  OLD  TESTABdnfT  THaOLOGT  DT 
ONIVBRSITY  OF  BKRLIN 


TRANSLATED   AND    ENLARGED 


CHARLES  ELLIOTT,  D.  D., 

rmairMmom  or  bibuoai<  utbraturb  ur  tbk  prksbttkbiait  thsoumioai.  luinrXBT  at  ohioaoo,  iL:k 


NEW  YORK: 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 


Atend  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  187^  \tf 

ScRiBNER,  Armstrong,  and  Compast, 
k  til*  Office  of  the  Librarirn  of  Congress,  at  WaahiogtM* 


NAHUM. 

INTRODUCTION. 

I.     Contents  and  Form. 

The  prophecy  of  Nahum  announces  the  destruction  of  Nineveh,  beheld  in  vision  (^iTJl, 

i.  1),  in  strains  of  a  lofty,  impetuous  epinicion.  This  triumphal  song  is  addressed  partly, 
80  far  as  it  is  consolatory  and  animating,  to  his  countrymen ;  but  chiefly,  in  its  menacing 
character,  to  the  powerful  enemy.  That  Nineveh  is  the  enemy  is  expressly  declared  in  the 
course  of  the  prophecy,  chap.  ii.  9  (8)  compared  with  chap.  iii.  18.  In  chap.  i.  8,  where 
it  is  first  referred  to,  the  allusion  is  intelligible,  only  as  a  retrospect  to  the  statement  in  the 
title,  i.  1,  which,  consequently,  must  be  considered  as  an  integrant  part  of  the  whole. 

Nineveh  was  to  be  destroyed,  plundered,  and  entirely  laid  waste  by  a  hostile  army,  and  by 
the  unfettering  of  the  elements  ;  and  all  those  that  were  oppressed  bv  her  were  to  have  rest 
from  that  time  forth. 

The  whole  book  is  one  connected  prophecy.  The  transitions  from  one  train  of  thought 
10  another  are  interwoven  into  one  another  ;  they  are  often  so  joined  by  close  antithesis,  or 
verbal  correspondence,  that  the  conclusion  of  that  which  precedes  is  inseparably  connected 
v/ith  the  beginning  of  that  which  follows.  The  prophetic  effusion  flows  on  continually  from 
beginning  to  end,  without  distinct  sections,  pauses,  or  divisions  into  strophes.  Yet  there  is 
no  defect  in  the  internal  arrangement.  In  the  exordium  (i.  1-6),  the  prophet  sets  out,  not 
from  a  pn^sent  historical  event,  nor  even  from  the  event  seen  by  him  in  vision ;  but  with  a 
lemma  borrowed  from  the  Torah :  "  God  is  a  jealous  God  and  an  avenger ; "  which  he  works 
into  a  grand  description  of  God's  glory  as  a  judge  (comp.  i.  4).  Connected  with  this  by  the 
immediately  annexed  intermediate  thought  (ver.  7),  that  the  avenging  Jehovah  is  good  to  them 
ihat  trust  in  Him,  is  the  announcement,  by  way  of  inference,  of  the  destruction  of  Nineveh, 
(i.  8-16),  which  finally  ends  in  a  sentence  of  judgment,  delivered  prophetically  in  the  stricter 
se^ise  (vers.  12-14).  With  this  is  connected,  passing  over  another  intermediate  thought  (ii.  1), 
relating  to  Israel,  the  description  of  the  catastrophe  (ii.  2-11)  ;  differing  from  the  announce- 
ment by  the  fact  that  while  the  latter  is  expressed  throughout  in  the  future  (ntCl?^,  "'^tt^S, 
cii'S),  now  the  whole  scene,  viewed  as  real  and  present  before  the  eyes  of  the  prophet,  is 
described  by  preterits  and  participles  (nbr,  D"*tt?3,  !1!J2"~).  He  sees  the  besieging  army 
before  the  city,  the  armor  glittering  in  the  light  of  the  sun  (vers.  2-4)  ;  in  the  city  he  beholds 
wild  confusion  (vers.  5,  6)  ;  he  sees  the  flood  break  in  with  its  overflowing  waters  (7-9  a), 
the  city  abandoned  and  laid  waste  (9  b-ll). 

To  the  description  is  directly  added,  as  it  were,  an  elegy  over  the  ruins,  lamenting,  of 
course,  less  in  sympathy  with  Nineveh,  than  over  the  wickedness  which  caused  such  ruin.  An 
alternating  surge  of  motives,  and  of  further  descriptions  of  the  catastrophe  and  its  con 
sequences  follows  from  ii.  12-iii.  19.  ii.  12-14  gives  mainly  the  fundamental  thoughts  of 
this  epilogue  :  (a.)  Nineveh  was  a  robber  ;  (b.)  She  is  destroyed  hy  God  from  the  earfii. 
Both  these  thoughts  are  thereujjon  farther  carried  out :  (a.)  in  iii.  1-4  ;  (b.)  in  iii.  5-7 ; 
(c.)  iii.  8-12  presents  a  new  motive ;  its  destruction  is  certain,  and  resistance  hopeless; 
even  the  powerful  No  Anion  fell.  And  as  it  is  hopeless,  so  also  (d.),  it  is  helpless,  12,  13- 
This  thought  is  carried  out  in  a  two-fold  form,  vers.  14,  15,  a,  b  ;  let  Nineveh  arm  herself  aa 
ehe  may,  still  she  must  be  destroyed,  15  c-17;  however  unnumbered  her  troops  may  be,  yet 
they  must  vanish  away.    To  this  is  joined  the  epilogue,  vers.  18,  19,  which  comprises  the  fun 


4  NAHUM. 

damcntal  thoughts  of  the  ^^llole  :  Nineveh,  the  oppressor,  is  irrecoverably  destroyed;  and  the 
oppressed  do  not  mourn,  but  are  comforted. 

Even  from  the  summary  of  the  contents  we  might  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  the  diction 
would  be  stirring  and  vivacious.  Indeed,  Nahum  of  all  the  prophets  has  the  most  impassioned 
style;  and  in  none  is  found  the  change  of  numbers,  of  persons  addressed,  and  of  sutHx-rela- 
tions,  with  such  frequency  and  immediateness  as  in  him.  At  the  same  time  his  language  has 
wonderful  energy  and  picturesque  beauty.  The  painting  does  not  embrace  merely  single 
rhythms  (ii.  5)  and  groups  of  words  (ii.  11),  but  whole  series  (iii.  2,  3  ;  ii.  10,  and  a  number 
of  other  places)  ;  and  in  connecting  his  thoughts  he  shows,  with  all  his  vehemence,  great  and 
varied  skill.  Consider  the  beautiful  double  parallelisms  (comp.  iii.  4)  ;  the  rhythmical  prom- 
inence of  a  single  definitive  word,  or  of  a  quite  small  group  of  words,  i.  10  (^b2S),14:  (nibp  *''3), 
ii.  1 ;  iii.  17  (D*M)  J  the  fuller  statement  of  two  fundamental  thoughts  briefly  premised  (i.  7, 
8  ;  rri'2,  ^rstr,  carried  out,  vers.  9,  10 ;  i.  12-14  :  Pj-lta,  "'San,  carried  out,  iii.  1  ff.,  5  fF.,  etc.) 
Lowth  says  with  propriety  :  "  Ex  omnibus  minoribus  prophetis  nemo  videtur  cequare  sublimitatem 
nrdorum  et  audaces  spiritus  Nahumi.  Adde  quod  ejus  vaticinium  integrum  ac  justiim  est  poema. 
Exordium  magnijicum  est  et  plane  augustum  ;  apparatus  ad  excidium  Ninivce  ejusque  excidit 
descriptio  et  amplijicatio  ardentissimis  coloribus  exprimitur  et  mirabilem  habet  evidentiam  et 
pondus."  It  has  been  here  and  there  the  custom,  from  a  somewhat  docetic  view  of  the 
Scriptures,  to  esteem  lightly  the  attention  bestowed  upon  the  form  adopted  by  the  sacred 
writers  as  something  superfluous,  relatively  useless.  We  are  not  to  reason  about  an  opinion 
that  is  based  upon  a  natural  defect,  and  whoever  has  in  general  a  sense  of  method,  will  not 
allow  himself  to  be  robbed  of  the  enjoyment  he  finds  in  contemplating  the  forms  of  God's 
Word.  (Comp.  Prov.  XXV.  11.)  However,  he  who  would  like  to  copy  after  a  good  exemplar, 
can  refer,  not  merely  to  the  beauty  of  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible,  but  also  to  the  ex- 
press model  of  the  Reformer,  whom  certainly  no  one  will  accuse  of  humanizing  the  Scrip- 
tures. Compare,  for  example,  his  remark  on  Hab.  i.  8 :  "  Here  we  see  how  elegantly  and 
accurately  the  prophets  can  speak,  how  briefly  and  yet  amply  they  express  a  thing.  For 
what  another  would  have  said  in  bare  words,  thus  :  The  Babylonians  will  come  and  destroy 
Jerusalem  :  Habakkuk  says  with  many  words,  and  beautifies  everything,  and  adorns  it  with 
similes,"  etc. 

2.   Author  and  Date. 

The  title,  of  whose  genuineness,  as  we  have  seen,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  designates  Na- 
hum the  Elkoshite,  as  the  author  of  this  prophecy  (D^Ri  is  an  intensive  form  like  Q^im 
^12n,  and  signifies  compassionate,  benevolent ;  also  consolatory).  Of  this  prophet,  apart 
from  the  title,  we  have  no  trustworthy  accounts.  The  traditions  concerning  his  birth  and 
ministry,  which  O.  Strauss  has  compiled  from  Pseudo-Dorotheus,  Pseudo-Epiphanius,  and 
Isodorus  Hispalensis,  show,  by  their  many  contradictions,  and,  in  part,  by  their  fantastic 
character,  that  their  inventors  had  no  more  certain  sources  of  information  than  ourselves,  t.  e., 
the  title  with  the  name  and  place  of  birth,  and  the  prophecy  itself;  and  that  they  were  not 
even  in  a  condition  to  turn  the  latter  to  good  account. 

If  we  first  seek  to  establish  from  the  prophecy  the  situation  (time  and  place)  of  the  com- 
position, it  is  evident  :  — 

1.  From  the  address  to  Judah,  ii.  1,  that  Samaria  was  already  destroyed,  and  that,  when 
he  speaks  of  the  injury  to  the  Holy  Land,  only  Judah  appears  exposed  to  danger.  Indeed, 
Samaria  had  been  destroyed  long  ago  :  it  had  already  passed  from  memory.  We  will  con- 
sequently tike  no  notice  of  the  statement  of  the  Chronicon  Paschale  (Olymp.  iii.  2-4),  accord- 
ing to  which  Nahum  prophesied  in  the  8-10  year  of  Jotham,  one  hundred  and  forty-four  yeara 
before  the  destruction  ;  in  the  same  way  we  will  treat  that  of  Josephus,  according  to  which 
his  prophecy  falls  in  the  last  year  of  Jotham  (one  hundred  and  fifteen  years,  according  to  the 
reckoning  of  Josephus,  before  the  catastrophe  ;  Ant.,  ix.  11,  3  ;  comp.  Niebuhr,  p.  117)  ;  in  the 
same  way,  that  of  Eusebius  (in  Chron.),  which  places  it  in  the  sixth  year  of  Hezekiah.  We 
are  shut  up  to  a  period,  when  Samaria  had  been  for  a  long  time  destroyed,  and  Judah  had 
already  been  exhausted  and  disheartened  by  the  keen  blows  of  Assyria. 

2.  The  same  statement  also  compels  us  to  go  beyond  the  time  of  Sennacherib,  in 
which  Vitringa,  Nagelsbach,  Keil,  and  many  others,  misplace  the  prophecy.  For  the  op- 
pressor has  already  passed  once,  or  several  times,  over  the  land,  ii.  1  ;  i.  12  (comp.  i.  9 
•fith  this  passage)  ;   and  just  i  ^w  he  is  not  there,  not  even   approaching ;   but  new  humilia 


INTRODUCTION 


tions  impend  (i.  12),  if  Nineveh  continues  to  be  spared,  on  account  of  which  Judah  shrinks 
from  solemnizing  her  feasts  (ii.  1).  Moreover  the  strain  of  the  prophecy  is  sucli  as  supposes 
a  continual  happy  success  to  Assyria,  but  not  a  catastrophe  like  that  of  Sennacherib.  Had 
it  oriLjinated  at  the  approach  of  that  monarch,  the  remote  destruction  ofNinev",h  would  have 
furnished  no  special  consolation  for  the  existing  generation  of  the  Jews. 

3.  But  at  the  same  time  it  is  -manifest,  in  reference  to  the  terminus  ad  quern,  that  Nahum 
iloes  not  see  the  end  of  Nineveh  as  immediately  imminent.  The  city  is  still  strong  and 
powerful,  full  of  ])eople  (i.  12),  and  its  subjects  are  widi'ly  spread  (iii.  K).  Thr  Egyptian 
Necho  is  not  yet  in  the  plan;  for  it  was  (mly  about  foir  years  before  the  des;  •uc'^ion  ox 
Nineveh,  that  he  began  to  overrun  and  plunder  Western  Asia,  and  annihilated  the  povier  ot 
Josiah.  Had  he  been  arming,  or  on  the  way,  then  ii.  1  would  be  without  complete  sense. 
Neither  is  it  a  detailed  description  of  the  present  reality  that  Nahum  gives  ;  he  does  not 
speak  of  two  armies,  which  are  approaching  (see  below,  4),  but  of  a  disperser  (ii.  2).  He 
does  not  start  from  the  fact,  but  derives  tlie  necessity  of  it  from  tlie  certainty  of  God's  Word 
contained  in  the  Law  (i.  1  ff.  ;  comp.  Ps.  xciv)  ;  and  thus  the  tenor  of  the  whole  description  is 
such  as  it  was  opened  to  the  eye  of  the  prophet,  according  to  its  ideally  necessary  course,  tc 
which  also  the  divine  intervention  belongs  (ii.  7  if. ;  comp.  Judges  v.  20).  Hence  we  are  di- 
rected to  the  times  before  the  oppression  of  Assyria  by  the  Medes  and  Scythians  ;  and  the 
fixins  of  the  date  under  Jehoiakim  (Cocceius)  and  Zedekiah  (Clemens  Alex),  comes  to 
nothing. 

4.  On  the  other  han<l  it  is  evident  from  the  intuitive  [anscliauUchen]  manner,  in  which 
tlie  prophet  speaks  of  the  city,  that  his  prophecy  was  written  in  Assyria  (Tucli,  Ewald). 

His  lano-uage  is  like  that  of  one  who  addresses  Israel  from  a  distance,  and  his  messages 
to  the  people  of  his  native  country  (ii.  1  fF.)  liave  accordingly  a  very  striking  similarity  to  the 
related  passages,  Is.  lii.  1,  7,  8  (compare  also  iii.  o,  with  Is.  xlvii.  2,  3;  iii.  7,  with  Is.  Ii.  19), 
where  the  prophet  likewise,  from  a  state  of  captivity,  conitbrts  Jerusalem  already  forsaken, 
and  prouiI:!^cs  to  her  messengers  of  joy.  Nowhere  is  there  fouud  u  reproof  of  the  sins  of  Is- 
rael, a  thing  which  a  prophet  present  among  the  people  would  have  scarcely  omitted.  The 
lanofuao-e  too,  as  Ewald  observes,  has  some  specific  Assyrian  expressions,  of  which  at  least  in 
the  instance  of  !Z^~iD2t2,  iii.  17,  the  assertion  of  Ewald  cannot  be  disputed.  (Concerning 
t3'^"1T3Ij    iii.  1 7,  and  3^n,  ii.  8,  compare  the  passages.) 

5.  But  at  the  same  time  it  is  evident  that  he  cannot  be  one  of  the  exiles  of  the  ten  tribes 
For  in  respect  to  them  it  is  neither  altogether  certain  (with  the  exception  of  those  carried 
away  from  the  east  of  .lordan  by  Tiglatli-Pileser)  whether  they  crenerallv  «ottled  in  Assyria 
(comp.  however,  besides  the  statements  of  the  book  of  Tobias,  Wichelhaus,  the  Journal  of 
the  German-Oriental  Societfj,  v.  367  ff.  \_Zeitschr.  der  deutsch-morgenl.  Ges.,  v.  367  ff.],  and  Keil 
on  2  Kings  xvii.  6)  ;  nor  would  the  perfect  silence  of  the  prophet  concerning  Samaria  be  in- 
telligible in  this  state  of  things.      The  prophet  clings  with  his  heart  to  Judah. 

Taking  into  consideration  all  these  facts,  the  author  is  indicated  by  the  prophecy,  as  a 
man  who  was  carried  out  of  Judah  to  Assyria,  was  there  in  the  time  of  a  powerful  military 
king,  from  whom  Judah  had  cause  to  dread  evil,  and  prophesied  between  the  year  686  (that 
of  Sennacherib's  death)  an  I  G5G  (the  beginning  uf  the  rei^n  of  Phraortes  the  Mede)  or  634 
(the  beginning  of  the  Scythian  devastating  invasion).  And  if  we  seek,  in  this  period,  a 
juncture  into  which  this  prophecy  naturally  fits,  it  is  the  reign  of  A'^arhaddon,  son  of  Sen 
nacherib,  king  of  Assyria  and  Babylon,  680-667  (comp.  Brandis  in  Pauly).  That  this  king 
undertook  several  predatory  excursions  in  the  direction  of  the  Mediterranean,  pushed  as  far 
as  Edom,  and  also  extended  over  the  land  of  Judsea,  he  himself  boasts  (Talbot,  Ass.  1. 1.,  p.  13)  ; 
compare  also  Ezra  iv.  2,  from  which  passage  likewise  it  is  clear  that  the  Jewish  territories 
did  not  lie  beyond  the  sphere  of  his  spoliation ;  and  the  Chronicles  expressly  assert  that  an 
army  sent  by  him  carried  away  prisoner  Manasseh,  king  of  Judah  (2  Chron.  xxxiii.  11).  (If 
the  Chronicles  mention  Babylon  as  the  place  of  deportation,  it  rests  upon  the  frequent  inter- 
change of  the  names  "l^tt'S  and  bl32.  Comp.  Gesen.,  Thes.,  i.  164.  Evidently  the  writer  of 
'.he  Chronicles  would  merely  indicate  that  the  king  was  carried  by  them  to  the  residence  of 
Assarhaddon,  as  this  was  the  custom  amonf:  kings.  2  Kings,  xxiv.  15  ;  xv.  27  f.  But  Assar 
aaddon  had  his  palace  of  residence  in  Nineveh  ;  see  below,  4).  It  is  no  valid  reason  to 
Ttply  to  this  by  suA'i.r^s  th  it  Naliuai  was  among  those  carried  away  un  this  occasion  ;  that 
relying  on  the  justice  of  God,  the  Avenger,  he  announced  destruction  to  Nineveh,  at  that 
time  in  a  highly  flourishing  condition  under  Assarhaddon.      Upon   the   point  of  more    \vn\\y 


6  NAHUM. 

establishing  this  date  from  iii.  8  ff.  by  a  more  exact  determination  of  the  purport  of  the 
monuments,  see  the  passage  thereon.  [Strauss  has  fixed  on  a  similar  date,  with  a  reason 
it  must  be  admitted,  resting  upon  i.  13,  which  Nagelsbach  and  Keil  properly  designate  as 
untenable.] 

It  is  doubtful,  whether  in  this  posture  of  the  matter  anything  has  been  gained  for  the 
obscure  [patrial]  Elkoshite  (i.  1).  That  it  is  not  a  patronymic,  but  like  ^ritt?^b,  Micah  i.  1, 
and  other  instances,  specifies  the  place  of  birth,  must  be  admitted  with  the  majority  of 
expositors.  But  where  is  Elkosh  situated  ?  The  formation  of  such  a  name  for  a  city  is  no' 
un-Hebraic,  or  rather  not  un-Palestinian.  Comp.  nbl)bs,  S)2nbs,  and  others,  Gesen.,  Thes., 
i.  102.  Eusebius  and  Cyr.  Alex,  assume  a  city  'F^XKiai  in  Palestine  as  the  birth-place  of 
Nahum,  Avithout  saying  anything  of  its  situation.  Hieronymus,  on  the  other  hand,  is  ac- 
quainted with  a  place  Elcesi  (var.  Elcesaei),  usque  hodie  viculum  in  Galilcea.  The  tradi- 
tion in  Pseudo-Doroth.  and  Pseudo-Epiph.  places  it  beyond  the  Jordan.  At  least  this  place 
is  of  course  doubtful ;  and  the  adjective  form  of  the  name  in  Hieronymus  is  strange  (Ges.). 
The  case  with  it,  at  best,  would  be  as  with  Morasthi  (see  com.  on  Micah,  p.  5),  which  desig- 
nated not  the  original  Moresheth,  but  the  sepulchral  sanctuary  consecrated  to  Micah.  Knobel 
(Prophetismus,  ii.  210)  aud  Hitzig  (edit.  1  and  3)  appeal  to  the  New  Testament  Capernaum  ; 
but  that  this  place,  though  named  after  one  Nahum  (Cphar-Nahum,  Midrash  Coheleth  f.  89  c. 
2  =  village  of  Nahum)  is  identical  with  Elkosh,  cannot  be  proved.  To  bring  in  the  name 
of  the  sect  of  the  Elcesaites,  which  is  traced  back  to  the  founder  Elxai  (Delitzsch,  Hiivernick, 
Strauss),  is  to  no  purpose.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  Elxai  was  not  the  founder,  but  the 
Greek  form  of  wi-iting  "'n  bst  (Hos.  ii.  1),  from  which  they  derived  their  name.  (Comp. 
Geiger,  Journal  of  the  Germaii- Oriental  Society,  xviii.  824  \_Zeitschr.  der  deulsch-morgenl. 
GesellschJ]  and  moreover  the  mode  of  writing  the  name :  Elci  in  Augustine,  'EAKrys  in  John 
Damascenus.)  Furthermore  not  much  is  gained  by  placing  Elkosh  in  Galilee,  since  Nahum 
did  not  belong  to  the  kingdom  of  the  ten  tribes.  Consequently  it  will  at  least  be  nearer  the 
truth  to  consider  the  Elkosh  mentioned  in  the  title,  the  place  situated  two  days'  journey  from 
Mosul  (  =  Nineveh),  (Gesen.,  Hall.  Lit.  Jour.  \_Hall.  Lileraturzeitg .~\  1 841,N.  2  ;  Hitter's  Geogra- 
phy, ix.  743  ti'.),  where  Nahum's  grave  is  shown  to  this  day.  This,  then,  corresponding  well 
with  the  position  of  things  mentioned  above,  might  be  Nahum's  place  of  exile,  and  the  place 
where  he  began  to  prophesy.  If  it  be  objected  that  such  descriptive  epithets  added  to 
names  designate,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Old  Testament  language,  not  the  place  of 
residence,  but  the  place  of  birth,  we  may  refer,  in  reply,  to  Judges  xvii.  7  ;  xix.  1,  where  the 
Levites,  who  are  spoken  of,  are  designated  according  to  their  jilace  of  residence  for  the  time 
being.  The  other  consideration  (Strauss  and  others),  that  the  Assyrian  Elkosh  is  first  men- 
tioned in  the  16th  century  (^Afiaemani  hihl.  or.,  i.  525;  iii.  1,  532),  weighs  still  more  against 
our  supposition.  We  are  consequently  inclined  to  the  conjecture,  that  the  place,  like  other 
sacred  monuments  of  those  countries,  owes  its  origin  and  name  to  the  juety  of  later  genera- 
tions. Even  Jonah's,  01:)adiah's,  and  Jephthah's  graves  are  pointed  out  in  those  countries. 
But  the  form  of  the  name  will  always  retain  a  preference  for  the  Elkesi  of  Hieron.,  which 
carries  with  it  this  origin  much  more  clearly ;  and  it  should  indeed  be  considered  that  all 
those  tombs  bear  the  names  of  the  men,  but  not  the  reconstructed  names  of  localities  with 
which  they  were  connected  ;  and  that  precisely  in  the  preservation  of  old  names  of  places 
tradition  is  very  tenacious.      (Comp.  Spiegel  at  the  place  cited,  x.  362.) 

[The  prophecy  of  Nahum  was  delivered  at  a  time  when  the  Assyrians  ruled  over  the 
nations  with  uncontrolled  power  (ch.  i.  12  ;  ii.  12  fF, ;  iii.  1,  2),  and  had  not  only  destroyed 
the  kingdom  of  Israel,  but  also  deeply  humbled  Judah.      Hence  — 

1.  De  Wette,  Vitring.,  Rosenm.,  Berth.,  Maur.,  Knob.,  Hav.,  Keil,  and  others,  place  it  m 
fhe  second  half  of  the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  or  soon  after  the  overthrow  of  Sennacherib  before 
Jerusalem  (2  Kings  xix.  35  IF.). 

2.  Hitzig,  Ewald,  in  the  time  of  the  wars  of  the  Medes  Avith  the  Assyrians. 

3.  Hieron.,  Calov.,  Jager,  and  others,  in  the  time  of  Sennachei'ib's  invasion. 

4.  Clem.  Alex.,  in  the  time  of  the  Babylonian  exile,  between  Ezekiel  and  Daniel. 

5.  Meyer,  Jarchi,  Abarb.,  Grot.,  Jahn,  Grimm,  Strauss,  Klein.,  in  the  time  of  Manasseh, 

6.  Junius  and  others,  in  the  last  times  of  Josiah.  Hertwig's  Tahellen, 

"  The  arguments  in  favor  of  an  Assyrian  locality  for  the  prophet  are  supported  by  the 
occurrence  of  what   are   ])resumeil    to  be    Assyrinn    words:  IZ^H,  ii.  8;    TT'''^T3p,  Tt^np?^ 


INTKODUCTION. 


lii.  17;  and  the  strange  form  HlJ^sb^,  in  ii.  14,  which  is  supposed  to  indicate  a  foreign 
influence.  In  addition  to  this,  is  the  internal  evidence  supplied  by  the  vivid  description  of 
Nineveh,  of  whose  splendors  it  is  contended  Nahuoi  must  have  been  an  eye-witness ;  but 
Hitzig  justly  observes  that  these  descriptions  display  merely  a  lively  imagination,  and  such 
knowledge  of  a  renowned  city  as  might  be  possessed  by  any  one  in  Anterior  Asia.  The; 
Assyrian  warriors  were  no  strangers  in  Palestine,  and  that  there  was  sufficient  intercourse 
between  the  two  countries  is  rendered  probable  by  the  history  of  the  prophet  Jonah.  There 
is  nothino-  in  the  prophecy  of  Nahum  to  indicate  that  it  was  written  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  Nineveh,  and  in  fuU  view  of  the  scenes  which  are  depicted,  nor  is  the  language 
that  of  an  exile  in  an  enemy's  country.  No  allusion  is  made  to  the  captivity ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  imagery  is  such  as  would  be  natm-al  to  an  inhabitant  of  Palestine  (i.  4),  to 
whom  the  rich  pastures  of  Bashan,  the  vineyards  of  Carmel,  and  the  blossom  of  Lebanon, 
were  emblems  of  all  that  was  luxuriant  and  fertile.  The  language  employed  in  i.  15  ;  ii.  2, 
is  appropriate  to  one  who  wrote  for  his  countrymen  in  their  native  land.  In  fact,  the  sole 
orio-in  of  the  theory  that  Nahum  flourished  in  Assyria  is  the  name  of  the  village  Alkush, 
wliich  contains  his  supposed  tomb,  and  from  its  similaiity  to  Elkosh  was  apparently  selected 
by  mediaeval  tradition  as  a  shrine  for  pilgrims,  with  as  little  probabiUty  to  recommend  it  as 
exists  in  the  case  of  Obadiah  and  Jephthah,  whose  burial-places  are  still  shown  in  the  same 
neiohborhood.  This  supposition  is  more  reasonable  than  another  which  has  been  adopted  in 
order  to  account  for  the  existence  of  Nahum's  tomb  at  a  place,  the  name  of  which  so  closi'ly 
resembles  that  of  his  native  town.  Alkush,  it  is  suggested  was  founded  by  the  Israelitish 
exiles,  and  bo  named  by  them  in  memory  of  Elkosh  in  their  own  country.  Tradition,  as 
usual,  has  usurped  the  province  of  history.  According  to  Paeudo-Epiphanius  (De  Vilu 
Proph.,  0pp.,  ii.  p.  247),  Nahum  was  of  the  tribe  of  Simeon,  '  from  Elcesei  beyond  the  Jordan 
at  Begabar  (Br]ya/3a.p  ;  Chron.  Pasch.  150  B.  Br}Ta(3aprj)'  or  Bethabara,  where  he  died  in 
peace  and  was  buried."      Smith's  Diet.  Bib.,  art.  ''  Nahum." 

Layard  thinks  that  the  tomb  shown  as  Nahum's,  at  Nineveh,  is  of  modern  origin.  Nin. 
and  its  Rem.,  vol.  i.  p.  197.  —  C.  E.] 

3.  Position  in  the   Organism  of  Scripture. 

Nahum  is  quite  an  original  prophet.  He  has  very  little  direct  connection  with  his  pre- 
decessors:  only  Joel  rings  out  in  some  passages:  with  ii.  11  compare  Joel  ii.  (^ ;  -dth  ii.  1 
compare  Joel  iv.  17;  with  iii.  15  fi^.  compare  Joel  i.  [His  coincidences  with  Isaiah  relate 
collectively,  in  a  remarkable  manner,  to  passages  from  that  prophet,  whose  authorship  by 
him  is  disputed:  with  ii.  1  compare  Is.  lii.  1,  7;  xxiv.  1  ;  with  ii.  3  compare  Is.  lii.  8;  with 
iii.  5  compare  Is.  Ixvii.  2;  with  iii.  7  compare  Is.  Ii.  19;  with  iii.  10  compare  Is.  xiii.  16; 
i.  13  compared  with  It;,  x.  27  (Strauss),  is  only  an  accidental  external  similarity  ()f  sound; 
so  that  it  becomes  necessary  to  decide  as  to  those  parallel  passages  found  in  Isaiah. 

[See  Alexander's  Introduction  to  Isaiah,  and  Keil's  Introduction  to  the  0.  T.,  vol.  i.  p.  281. 
—  C.  E.] 

But  the  Psalms  have  exercised  throughout  an  essential  influence  upon  his  language :  com- 
pare the  exegetical  exposition.  On  the  other  hand,  he  has  been  to  his  successors  a  mine, 
with  whose  rich  treasures  their  prophecy  connects  itself  and  moulds  itself  into  larger  propor 
tions.  Jeremiah  particularly  has  him  frequently  before  his  eyes:  compare  with  i.  13  Jer. 
XXX.  8;  with  iii.  5,  13,  17,  19  compare  Jer.  xiii.  22  ff". ;   1.  37;  Ii.  30;  h.  27;  x.  19;  Ii.  12. 

In  the  organism  of  Scripture  Nahum  occupies  an  important  position,  not  so  much  on  ac- 
count of  the  theological  as  of  the  historical  significance  of  his  prophecy.  Its  theological  im- 
portance culminates  in  the  representation  of  God,  Jehovah  Sabaoth  (comp.  ii.  14),  as  the 
actual  Judge  —  a  representation  accurately  adapted  to  the  situation  of  the  world;  and  iLia 
description  is  not  essentially  different  from  that  in  the  earliest  pubUc  writings  and  those  of 
the  preceding  prophets. 

Ciod  is  described  as  the  Holy  One,  who  annihilates  pride,  despotism,  and  violence  with 
burning  zeal,  and  for  that  purpose  sets  the  elements  of  heaven  and  earth  in  motion  ;  but 
who  employs  his  majesty  to  protect  his  own  in  trouble,  and  to  cause  judgment  upon  the 
enemy  to  work  for  the  deliverance  of  his  people.  When  the  enemy  are  buried  under  theii 
own  gods,  upon  which  they  relied,  as  under  a  heap  of  rubbish,  then  the  heralds  of  peace 
appear  upon  the  mountains  to  proclaim  good  tidings  to  Israel  (i.  14 ;  ii.  1,  Stau  H).  Tlaa 
historical  significance,  on  the  other  hand,  is  this  :  that  Nahum  concludes  the  second  Assyrian 


NAHUM. 

period  of  prophecy  (comp.  Com.  on  Obadiah,  p.  14).  The  cycle  of  development  of  prophecy, 
whose  determining  points  are  Hosea,  Isaiah,  Micah,  here  comes  to  a  close ;  and  Nineveh,  the 
great  city  (comp.  Com.  on  chapter  i.)  perishes  before  God,  in  order  that  Babylon,  rising  over  it« 
ruins,  as  the  last  Semitic  world-power,  may  bring  to  completion  the  fratricide  begun  by  Edoff 
(compare  Obadiah),  and  make  room  for  the  Aryan  nations,  of  a  different  ethnical  stock 
which,  at  the  fall  of  Nineveh,  came  first  into  contact  with  the  kingdom  of  God,  to  show 
themselves  friendly  towards  Israel  and  to  make  peace  with  Jehovah. 

[The  book  of  Nahiim  will  be  best  understood,  by  being  read  as  a  continuation,  or  supple- 
ment to  the  book  of  Jonah.  The  prophecy  of  both  is  directed  against  Nineveh.  But  that 
of  Jonah  was  followed  by  the  preservation  of  that  city ;  that  of  Nahum,  which  is  more 
detailed  in  its  circumstances,  indicating  the  actual  doom,  was  followed  by  its  capture  and 
destruction.  They  form  connected  parts  of  one  moral  history;  the  remission  of  God's  judg- 
ments being  illustrated  in  the  one,  the  execution  of  it  in  the  other.  The  attentive  reader 
will  perceive  them  to  be  contrasted  in  some  of  their  contents,  as  well  as  in  their  general 
object ;  the  repentance  of  the  Ninevites  and  their  wickedness,  the  clemency  and  the  just 
severity  of  the  divine  government,  being  combined  together  in  the  mixed  delineation  of 
the  two  books  (compare  Nahum  i.  2  with  Jonah  iv.  2,  and  Nahum  iii.  1  with  Jonah  iii.  8). 
But  of  pure  Christian  prophecy,  either  direct  or  typical,  perhaps  the  book  of  Nahum  must". 
be  set  down  as  affording  no  instance.      Davison,  On  Prophecy,  p.  202. 

"In  its  essence,  the  tendency  of  the  call  of  Nahum  was,  that  he  might  be  a  witness  of 
the  divine  righteousness  (i.  2,  3),  in  which  sense  he  was  to  interpret  the  mighty  deeds  of 
God  in  the  times  immediately  preceding;  and  then  to  prophecy  the  future  of  judgment,  and 
in  connection  with  this  to  proclaim  a  strongly  consolatory  message  to  the  sorely  humbled 
covenant  people."     Hav.,  p.  378. 

Keil,  Intrud.  to  0.  T.,  vol.  i.  p.  409.  —  C.  E.] 

The  Fulfillment. 
4.  Fall  of  Nineveh. 

Comp.  Herodotus,  Hlstorice,  ed.  C.  Miiller,  Paris,  1844  (lib.  i.  passim). 

Berot^us,  Fragmenta,  ed.  Richter,  Lips.,  1825. 

Diodorus  Siculus,  Bibl.  Historica  (with  the  Notices  of  Ctesias),  ed.  L.  Dindorf,  Lips.,  1828, 
(ii.  23-28). 

Alexander  Polyhistor,  Nicolaus  Damascenus,  Abydenus,  Fragmenta  in:  Fragmenta  His- 
iaricorum  Grcecorum,  ed.  C.  Muller,  Paris,  1841  ff.,  4to,  t.  iii.  206  ff.,  342  ff.,  iv.  278  ff. 

Flavius  Josephus,  Opera,  edidit  Sigb.  Havercamp,  Amst.,  1726,  folio  (Antt.,  1.  x.  c.  Ap.  i.  19). 

Eusebius,  Chronicon  Armenicum,  ed.  Bapt.  Aucher,  Ven.,  1818  (i.  p.  54). 

Georg.  Syucellus,  Chronographia,  ed.  G.  Dindorf,  Bonn,  1829  (p.  396). 

Seder  01am,  Rabha  s.  Chronicon  Hebrceorum  Majus  el  Minus,  ed.  J.  Meyer,  Amst.,  1649, 
4  (c.  xxiv.). 

Clinton,  Fasti  Hellenici,  ed.  ii.  Oxf,  1827. 

G.  Hupfeld,  Exercitationum  Herodotearum,  spec.  i.  s.  De  Rebus  Assyriorum,  Marb.,  1837. 

F.  Tuch,  De  Nino  Urbe  Animadversiones  Tres.,  Lips.,  1845. 

Botta  and  Flandin,  Monumens  de  Nineveh,  Paris,  1847  ff.  (5  vols.). 

A.  H.  Layard,  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  London,  1849  ;  Deutsch  von  Meissner,  Nineveh 
und  seine  Ueberreste,  Leipz.,  1850;  2  Ausg.  mit  einem  chronolog.  Anhang  v.  Seyffarth, 
Lipz.,  1854. 

Ders.,  Discoveries  in  the  Ruins  of  Nineveh  und  Babylon,  London,  1853 ;  Deutsch  von 
Zenker,  Leipz.,  1855. 

H.  Rawlinson,  A  Commentary  on  the  Cuneiform  Inscr.  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  London, 
1850;  Outlines  of  Assyr.  History  from  the  Inscr.  of  N in.,  London,  1852 ;  A  Selection  from 
the  Historical  Inscriptions  of  Ch<ddcea,  Assyria,  and  Babylonia,  London,  1861. 

J.  P.  Fletcher,  Notes  from  Nitieveh,  London,  1850. 

Blackburn,  Nineveh,  its  Rise  and  Ruin,  London,  1850. 

W.  Vuux,  Nineveh  and  Persepolis,  London,  1850;   Deutsch  von  Zenker,  Leipz.,  1852. 

G.  F.  Grotefend,  Uber  Anlage  und  Zerstiirung  der  Gebdude  zu  Nimrud,  Gcitt.,  1851. 

J.  Fergusson,  The  Palaces  of  Nineveh  and  Persepolis  restored,  London,  1851  ;  Nineveh  2nd 
if  Ruins,  Loudon,  1854. 

F.  Jones,  Topography  of  Nineveh,  Journ.  of  the  Roy.  Asiat.  Soc,  t.  xv.  p.  297  ff. 


INTKODUCTIOJS. 


E.  Hincks,  On  the  Assyrio-Bab.  Phonetic  Characters.  Transact,  of  the  Irish  R.  Aca<^ 
Dublin,  1851  (xu.),  273  ff.     Comp.  1856,   165  ff.,  and  Layard's  Discoveries,  p.  613  ff. 

J.  Bonomi,  The  Palaces  of  Nineveh,  London,  1852,  2d  edit,,  1858. 

C.  H.  Gosse,  Assyria,  Her  Manners  and  Customs,  London,  1852. 

G.  Pote,  Nineveh,  A  Review  of  its  Ancient  History  and  Modern  Explorers,  1854. 

J.  Brandis,  Rerum  Assyr.  Tempora  Emendata,  BeroL,  1853;  Uber  den  Hist.  Gewinn  ati$ 
der  Entzifferung  der  Ass.  Inschriften,  Berlin,  1856;  artik el  "  Assyria "  in  Pauly's  Ency- 
klopadie  der  class.  Alterthumswvisenschaft,  2  Aufl.,  Stuttg.,  1866,  i.  2,  1884  flf. 

J.  V.  Sunipach,  Ahriss  der  Babylonisch-Assyr.  Geschichte,  Mannh.,  1854. 

H.  F.  Talbot,  Assyrian  Texts  translated,  London,  1856. 

Ch.  Walz,  Turibuli  Assyrii  Descriptio,  Tub.,  1856. 

M.  V.  Niebuhr,  Gesch.  Assurs  und  Babels,  Berlin,  1857. 

J.  B.  Bosanquet,  The  Fall  of  Nineveh,  London,  1858. 

W.  K.  Loftus,  Travels  and  Researches  in  Chald(Ba  and  Susianu,  London,  1858. 

F.  Fresnel,  Expedition  Scientifique  en  Mesopotamie,  publiee  p.  J.  Oppert,  Paris,  1858. 

J.  Oppert,  Chronologie  des  Assyriens  et  Bahyloniens,  Paris  (Tableau  ohne  Datum) ; 
Deutsch-Morgenl.  Zeitschr.  xi.  308 ;  Reponse  a  un  Article  Critique  de  M.  E.  Renan,  Paris, 
1859;  Etat  Actuel  de  Dechiffrement  des  Inscriptions  Cuneiformes,  Paris,  1861;  Les  Inscrip- 
tions Assyriennes  des  Sargonides  et  les  Pastes  de  Nineve,  Versailles,  1862;  Elements  de  la 
Grammaire  Assyrienne,  Paris,  1860 ;  Expedition  Scientifique  en  Mesopotamie,  t.  ii.  1863  j 
Histoire  des  Empires  de  Chaldee  et  d'Assyrie,  Paris,  1866. 

H.  Ewald,  Uber  die  Biblischen  Beschreibungen  Ninevehs,  Jabrb.  x.  (1860),  p.  50  ff. ; 
Geschichte  des  Volks  Israel,  3  Aufl.  Bd.  iii.  p.  777  ff. 

J.  Menant,  Les  Ecritures  Cuneiformes,  Paris,  1860;  Les  Noms  Propres  Assyriens,  Paris, 
1860;  Elements  d' Epigraphie  Assyrienne,  Paris,  1864. 

G.  Rawlinson,  The  Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the  Ancient  Eastern  World,  London,  1862, 
ff.  4  Bd.  (i.  p.  225  ff.  und  ii.). 

J.  Oppert  et  J.  Menant,  Les  Pastes  de  Sargon,  Paris,  1863 ;  Grandes  Inscriptions  du 
Palais  de  Khorsabad,  Paris,  1864. 

M.  Duncker,  Geschichte  des  Alterthums,  3  Aufl.,  Berlin,  1863,  Bd.  1,  p.  793  ff. 

J.  Olshausen,  Priifung  des  Charakters  der  in  den  Assyr.  Inschriften  enthaltenen  Semit, 
Sprache,  Berlin,  1865. 

E.  Rodiger,  Zeitschrift  der  Deutsch-Morgenl.  Gesellschaft,  v.  445  ff.;  viii.  673  ff. ;  ix.  331 
ff. ;  x.  725  ff.;  B,.  Gosche,  ebendas,  xvii.  96  ff. ;  xxi.  Suppl.  s.  156  ff. 

F.  Spiegel,  in  Herzog's  Real-encyklopadie,  x.  362  ff. ;  xx.  219  ff. 

P.  Glaize,  Les  Inscriptions  Cuneiformes  et  les  Travaux  de  M.  Oppert,  Paris,  1867. 

Over  500  years,  Nineveh,  the  great  city  of  God  (comp.  Jonah  i.  3 ;  iii.  2),  was,  under  its 
powerful  rulers,  the  terror  of  Western  Asia.  Through  successive  generations  it  had  been 
built  into  an  immense  city  :  dynasty  after  dynasty  had  transmitted  its  dreaded  name,  by 
magnificent  colossal  edifices,  to  after  ages.  Upon  an  artificial  terrace  by  the  Tigris  towered, 
not  far  from  the  tower  of  Ninus,  the  great  northwest  palace  founded  by  Sardanapalus, 
(Assur-idanni-pal ;  according  to  Rawlinson,  Assur-izir-pal) ;  in  the  southwest  corner,  in  still 
fresh  magnificence,  stood  the  residence,  which  Assarhaddon,  the  son  of  Sennacherib,  had 
Duilt  from  the  ruins  of  the  central  palace  formerly  erected  by  Salmanassar  I.,  son  of  Sar- 
danapalus and  conqueror  of  Benhadad  and  Jehu.  Farther  to  the  northeast,  on  the  Khosr- 
Su,  which  flows  with  a  swift  current  from  the  Maklub  mountains  into  the  Tigris,  and  fre- 
quently with  sudden  floods  overflows  the  plains,  were  the  great  structures  of  Khorsabad,  the 
monuments  of  Sargon,  who,  during  the  conquest  of  Samaria,  succeeded  Salmanassar  IV. ; 
finally,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kho^^r-Su  stood  the  edifices  of  Sennacherib  and  Assurbani- 
palus,  the  son  of  Assarhaddon,  at  Kouyunjik.  The  wide  plain  of  the  city,  covered  with 
masses  of  houses,  streets,  and  pasture-grounds,  was  strongly  fortified.  On  the  west  and 
south  the  Tigris  and  the  Zab  (Lycus)  inclosed  it :  on  the  east  and  north  moats  were  dug, 
■which  almost  equaled  the  rivers  in  width  A  surrounding  wall  protected  the  main  part  of 
*he  city  ;  the  sluices  of  the  canals  were  derended  by  well-guarded  gates  and  citadels.  Within 
surged  an  immense  trafllic ;  Nineveh's  reputation  as  a  commercial  city  rivaled  that  of  Tyre 
jEz.  xxvii.  23),  and  immense  riches  were  hoarded  up  in  it,  acquired,  to  be  sure,  not  by  com- 
merce alone,  but  also  by  the  system  of  predatory  war  and  contributions  [levied  in  time  of 
irar]  carried  to  the  highest  degree  (comp.  ii.  13). 

But  even  this  height  of  human  grandeur  must  be  brought  low  by  the  will  of  God.     Ii 


10  NAHUM. 

the  midst  of  it  and  during  its  full  bloom,  the  threatening  of  Nahum  was  denounced  against 
[^war  Nahums  Wort  der  Stadt  in,  s  Angesicht  geschleudert]  the  city,  and  it  did  not  wait 
long  for  its  fulfillment.  East  of  Assyria,  at  the  same  time  that  the  Aryan  Romans  were  lay- 
ing the  foundation  of  their  city  and  of  universal  dominion,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  in  the 
extreme  west,  the  Aryan  tribes,  the  Medes  and  Persians,  who  were  about  to  wrest  the  reins 
of  Asiatic  dominion  from  the  hands  of  the  enervated  Semites  of  the  east,  aspired  to  power. 

After  these  nations  had  served  the  Assyrians  a  long  (duie,  —  and  still  in  the  time  of 
Salmanassar  they  were  the  vassals  of  that  power  (2  Kings  xvii.  6)  —  occurred,  as  it  appears, 
the  catastrophe  of  Sennacherib  before  Jerusalem,  which  furnished  the  final  occasion  for 
Deioces  (Ajis-dahaka  =  Astyages,  devouring  serpent),  the  King  of  the  Medes,  one  year 
after  that  catastrophe,  to  shake  off  the  oppressive  yoke.  Sennacherib  may  nevertheless,  as 
the  monuments  (against  Tob.  i.  21)  prove,  have  reigned  after  that  disaster  seventeen  years, 
and  undertaken  numerous  expeditions ;  and  even  after  him  Assarhaddon,  who  maintained 
the  city  in  a  highly  flourishing  condition,  may  still  have  been  a  powerful  king.  The  state- 
ment of  Josephus,  according  to  which  the  decline  of  the  Assyrian  power  dates  from  the 
annihilation  of  its  army  before  Jerusalem,  still  maintains  its  accuracy  ;  for  the  "  disperser  " 
had  become  free ;  and  though  Assarhaddon  continued  to  call  himself  the  King  of  Media,  it 
was  an  empty  pretension.  The  Assyrians  were  no  longer  successful  iu  subjecting  the  Medes. 
Already  Deioces,  the  successor  of  Phraortes  (Frawartis'h),  began  to  tear  away  large  frag- 
meuLb  lioiii  the  kingdom,  and  he  ventured  even  an  attack  upon  the  central  province,  which 
was,  however,  repelled.  In  the  south  the  Egyptians,  whose  country  the  Assyrian  kings, 
since  the  time  of  Sargon,  were  fond  of  designating  as  their  province,  abcci  ted  with  energy 
their  independence  under  Tirhaka,  and  Assurbanipal,  son  of  Assarhaddon,  had  only  trifling 
success  against  them.  Yea,  under  Psammetichus  they  began  to  enter  Asia  victoriously. 
Savage  bands  of  entirely  foreign  hordes  (the  Scythians),  passed  through  burning  and  laying 
waste  the  hither  Asiatic  countries  (comp.  Introd.  to  Zeph.  4)  ;  and  although  their  invasion 
was  at  first  productive  of  advantage  to  Assyria,  inasmuch  as  Phraortes,  the  successor  of 
Cyaxares,  was  obliged  to  turn  away  his  forces  from  Nineveh  against  them,  yea  to  enter  into 
a  kind  of  alliance  with  the  chief  Khan  of  the  Scythians  for  tweuty-eight  years,  still  the 
country  of  Assyria  suffered  harm  from  them,  and  its  power  was  more  and  more  weakened. 
A  still  more  dangerous  enemy,  in  their  own  land  and  of  their  own  race,  arose  under  the 
encouragement  of  Media.  Babylon,  which  before  Nineveh,  had  maintained  the  ascendency 
in  Hither  Asia,  made  efforts  from  time  to  time  to  regain  its  ancient  glory ;  but  it  had  always 
airain  (and  a  short  time  before  by  Sennacherib  and  Assarhaddon)  been  defeated. 

Now  the  time  for  independence  appeared  to  have  arrived.  Wliilst  Cyaxares,  by  the  wars 
which  he  prosecuted,  surrounded  Nineveh  on  the  north,  in  a  crescent,  with  his  conquests, 
Nabopolassar  (in  Abyd.,  Eus.,  "  Busalossor  " ;  in  Ktes.,  Diod.  "  Belesys  "),  whom  the  Assyrian 
king,  in  the  days  of  the  Assyrian  oppression,  had  sent  to  hold  Babylon,  had  taken  advan- 
ta<re  of  the  rebellious  disposition  of  the  people,  drawn  them  into  his  plans,  and  made  prepar- 
ations to  revolt.  The  complete  overthrow  of  the  Assyrian  authority  was  an  essential  condi- 
tion of  the  kingdom  which  he  intended  to  found.  For  this  there  was  need  of  Media. 
Cyaxares  was  still  involved  in  war  with  Lydia  ;  but  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  in  broad  daylight, 
which  terrified  the  combatants,  contributed  to  the  success  of  Nabopolassar's  plans  of  media- 
tion. Cyaxares  made  peace  with  the  Lydians  and  an  alliance  with  the  Babylonians  against 
the  Assyrians,  which  was  sealed  by  the  marriage  of  his  daughter.  Amunia,  with  Nebuchad- 
nezzar (in  Herod.  "  Labynetus"),  the  son  of  Nabopolassar.  Nebuchadnezzar  appears  from 
this  time  forward  as  the  colleague  of  his  father.  [Whether,  as  from  the  notices  of  Ktesias  in 
iJiodorus  and  fi-om  Nicolaus  Dam.  it  seems  to  follow,  and  as  Niebuhr  assumes,  the  Babylonian 
[king]  entered  into  a  feudal  relation  to  Media,  cannot  from  the  evidently  imreliable  charac- 
ter of  these  sources  be  determined.  Duncker  doubts  it.  However,  on  this  supposition,  it 
would  be  easily  explained  how,  on  the  one  hand,  Herodotus  ascribes  to  Cyaxares  alone  the 
conquest,  and  how  Berosus  also  mentions  only  Babylonian  auxiliaries,  whilst,  on  the  other 
hand,  besides  Ez.  xxxii.  Abydenus  also,  Alexander  Polyhistor  and  the  Jewish  sources  external 
to  the  Bible  assign  the  conquest  to  the  Babylonians.] 

The  assault  was  made.  In  Nineveh  reigned  Assuridilil  IU.,  the  indolent  son  of  Assurbani 
])aluB  (Oppert ;  Spiegel  according  to  H.  Rawlinson  1860  : "  Assur-eraed-ilin  ;"  Brandis  according 
to  H.  Rawlinson,  1864  :  "  Assur-irik-ili-kin ;  '*  Syncellus  according  to  Berosus,  Abyd.,  Alex. 
Polyh. :  "  Sarakos=Assarak.")  Notwithstanding  the  siege  was  no  easy  task.  The  ki'.i;^  had, 
at  th«  approach  of  the  enemy,  collected  all  his  active  forces  into  the  wide  plain  of  the  city 


INTKODUCTION.  11 


When  Ktesias  relates  that  they  continued  to  be  collected  for  three  years,  his  statement  is  not 
incredible,  in  view  of  the  great  strength  of  the  city.  The  silence  of  Herodotus  is  no  reason 
to  the  contrary,  since  in  our  text  of  Herodotus,  it  is  proved  from  Aristotel.,  Hist.  Anim.,  ed. 
Becker,  601,  that  there  is  a  hiatus  just  at  the  determinative  passage.  Niebuhr  thinks  that, 
judging  from  the  remains  of  the  fortifications,  it  was  impossible  for  the  siege-engines  of  the 
ancients  to  effect  a  capture.  Three  times  was  severe  defeat  brought  upon  the  besieging  a-my 
by  the  Assyrians  sallying  forth  ;  and  with  difficulty  did  Nabopolassar,  whose  crown  was  at 
stake,  succeed  in  holding  the  Medes  to  the  siege.  Soon  the  Assyrians  abandoned  themselves, 
in  their  camp  pitched  before  the  gates,  to  negligent  rejoicing  on  account  of  their  victory 
(comp.  i.  10)  ;  then  they  were  attacked  in  the  night  by  the  besiegers  and  driven  back  to 
the  walls.  The  kino-  o-ave,  in  his  despondency,  the  chief  command  to  his  brother-in-law, 
Salaemenes ;  but  fortune  had  changed.  Salaemenes  with  his  troops  was  routed  and  driven 
into  the  Tigris  (comp.  at  iii.  3).  But  the  city  itself  was  still  uninjured,  and  in  vain  did  the 
enemy  encamp  before  the  gates.  Then  it  came  to  pass,  in  the  spring  of  the  third  year,  that 
other  powers  interfered.  The  river  became  "  an  enemy  to  the  city  "  (Ktes.)  ;  comp.  at  ii. 
7  ;  i.  8,  10.  The  inundation  occurring  suddenly,  was  more  violent  than  it  had  ever  been  : 
the  mio-hty  flood  broke  down  in  one  night  the  walls  on  the  river  to  a  great  extent.  The 
king  despaired  of  saving  his  Ufe.  Already  had  he  sent  his  family  to  the  north ;  now  he 
shut  himself  up  with  all  his  treasures  in  the  royal  citadel  and  burned  himself  with  them.  "  Of 
old  the  funeral  pile  was  erected ;  yea,  for  the  king  it  was  prepared  deep  and  large  :  it  was 
prepared  with  fire  and  much  wood,  and  the  breath  of  God,  like  a  stream  of  brimstone,  kin 
dies  it."  (Is.  XXX.  33.)  An  immense  booty  of  gold  and  silver  was  carried  from  the  city  to 
Ecbatana  and  Babylon.  The  princes  of  the  Medes  caused  the  battlements  of  the  inner 
walls  around  their  castles  to  be  covered  with  gold  and  silver  plates  made  from  it.  The 
princes  of  Babylon  adorned  the  temple  of  Belus  with  it.  (Comp.  at  ii.  10.)  The  plundered 
city  was  abandoned  to  the  flames.  It  is  evident  from  the  ruins  that  both  Khorsabad  and 
Nimrud  were  sacked  and  then  set  on  fire.     (Bonomi.) 

Thus  was  Nineveh  overthrown.  "  Assyria  lies  buried  there  with  all  its  people  ;  round 
about  are  their  graves,  all  of  them  are  slain  and  fallen  by  the  sword  ;  they  have  made  their 
graves  deep  there  below."  (Ez.  xxxii.  22  f.)  Panic  fear  kept  the  people  of  the  vicinity  a 
long  time  far  from  the  ruins.  Xenophon  found  still  in  their  mouths  gloomy  traditions  of  the 
destruction  of  the  great  city,  whose  ruins  he  saw  :  the  interposition  of  the  Deity,  whether  by 
an  eclipse,  or  by  a  fearful  thunderstorm,  was  fully  believed  by  them.  Anab.  in.  iv.  8-12. 
It  seems  that  even  the  eclipse,  which,  to  the  ruin  of  Nineveh,  had  put  an  end  to  the  Lydian 
war,  was  laid  hold  of  by  the  popular  belief,  as  it  was  by  the  prophets,  in  this  import  of  it. 
In  later  times  the  Parthians  erected  castles  over  the  ruins.  Tacitus  is  acquainted  with  Ninus 
as  an  existing  fortification.  {Ann.,  xii.  13,  comp.  also  Ammian.  Marc,  xxiii.  16.)  But  if  this 
fortress  ever  had  any  importance,  Lucian  could  not  have  written  :  'H  /x,€V  Nii/os  aTroAwXei^ 
nlj^rj,  Kal  oiSei/  l^uoi  en  Xotirov  aurijs,  oi>S*  au  e'iTrrjs  oirov  ttot  ■^v.  (^EirKTKoirovvTe'i,  i-  292.) 
Compare  Nah.  iii.  17. 

The  emperor  Heraclius  gained,  a.  d.  627,  the  great  victory  over  Rhazates  on  the  field 
of  its  ruins.  (Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall,  ch.  xlvi.)  Benjamin  of  Tudela  found  again, 
A.  D.  1170,  on  its  site,  many  villages  and  castles.  But  about  A.  D.  1300  it  is  again  asserted 
that  Nineveh  is  entirely  destroyed.  Thus  it  remained  long  forgotten.  Bochart  (Phaleg.,  vi.  20, 
p.  284)  states  that  the  learned  endeavor  in  vain  to  determine  its  situation.  "■  Immensa  urbs 
ac  fere  imuperaUlin  per  multa  secula  diruta  jacet ;  imperii  olim  amplisslmi  munimenta,  splen- 
doris  regiique  apparatus  domicilia  hodierno  die  diffudit  aratrum,  aut  seduli  accolce,  qui  vias  per 
medias  ruinas  sequuntur,  conculcant.  Verno  tempore  nunc  aggeres  graminibus  se  vestiunt  omniaqui 
collium  ah  ipsa  natura  perfectorum  jnyo  tarn  similia  sunt,  ul  Niebuhrius  quce  munimenta  tranS' 
gressus  esset,  Mossulce  demum  acceperit."  (Tuch,  p.  55  f.)  The  spirit  of  inquiry,  during 
the  last  decades,  has  reanimated  the  dust  of  the  past  for  a  witness  of  the  truth  of  God's 
Word.  "  Qui  viderit  ruinas  Nineves  et  positam  earn,  omnibus  in  exemplum,  expavescet  et  mirabi- 
tur.     Hieronymus,  Ad  Nah.  iii.  7. 

That  the  siege  and  conquest  described  above  are  predicted  by  Nahum  cannot  be  doubted 
The  strange  hypothesis  of  Kalinsky  that  Nahum  foretells  two  conquests :  the  one,  chap,  ii.,  re- 
lated by  Ktesias-Diodorus;  the  other,  chap,  iii.,  by  Herodotus,  scarcely  requires  mention. 

More  difficult,  however,  is  the  fixing  of  the  time  when  the  conquest  took  place.  It  was  for 
R  time  considered  settled  that  it  should  be  placed  in  the  year  606.    f  Clin.ton,  Fasti  Hellenici, 


J I 


12  NAHUM. 


,.  269;  Layard,  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  273;  O.  Strauss,  p.  Ixxv.  ;   Duncker,  p,  803.)    We 
onsider  this  date  the  most  probable,  even  after  the  antagonistic  opinion  of  Keil. 

In  favor  of  this  first  of  all  is  the  synchronism  of  the  Biblical  statements.  If  in  the  time  of 
Josiah  a  king  of  Assyria  is  still  mentioned  (2  Kings  xxiii.  29),  it  foliows  that  Nineveh  could 
not  have  been  destroyed  before  Josiah's  death  in  609.  If  Jeremiah  (ch.  xxv.)  enumerates, 
in  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim,  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  which  were  still  to  be  destroyed, 
and  does  not  mention  Assyria  among  them,  then  its  destruction  cannot  fall  after  605. 

Further,  the  more  authentic  sources  of  Jewish  literature  are  in  favor  of  this  date.  Tobias 
becomes  blind  in  the  year  710  (Clinton),  and  lives  still  after  this  one  hundred  years  (ch.  xiv. 
gr.)  ;  and  yet  Nineveh  was  not  destroyed  until  after  his  death.  The  Seder  01am  Rabba 
states  (ch.  xxiv.  comp.  the  parallels  from  other  Rabbinical  writings  in  Meyer's  Observa- 
tions on  the  Seder,  p.  1131),  that  Nebuchadnezzar  in  his  first  year  [consequently  (comp.  Jer. 
xxv.  1),  immediately  before  the  date  of  the  passage  from  Jeremiah  mentioned  above]  de 
Ktroyed  Nineveh. 

Finally,  the  chronology  of  profane  writers  also  favors  this  date.  "'  According  to  Herodo- 
tus the  conquest  falls  after  the  Lydian  war  of  Cyaxares  (i.  106).  This  war  was  terminateil 
after  the  tenth  of  September,  610,  by  a  treaty  of  peace.  The  armies  of  the  allies,  therefore, 
could  not  appear  before  Nineveh  before  the  spring  of  609.  In  the  third  year  of  the  siege 
the  city  was  taken  (Diodorus,  ii.  27)  ;  the  capture  was  facilitated  by  the  overflowino-  of 
the  river,  and  must  consequently  have  taken  place  in  the  spring.  When  the  capture  took 
place,  Nabopolassar  was  still  living,  and  took  possession  of  the  Assyrian  territory  situated  on 
this  side  of  the  Tigris  (Alex.  Polyh.  in  Syncellus,  p.  396  ed.  Dind.).  But  Nabopolassar  died  in 
January  604,  according  to  the  Astronomical  Canon.  It  can,  therefore,  be  only  a  matter  of 
doubt  whether  the  capture  occurred  in  606  or  605.  Since,  however,  Nebuchadnezzar,  in  the 
year  605,  defeated  Necho  at  Carchemish  and  pursued  him  as  far  as  Syria,  where  he  was  in- 
formed, first  that  his  father  was  sick,  and  then  that  he  was  dead  (Jos.,  Ant.,  x.  11,  1),  the 
capture  of  the  city  must  have  already  taken  place  in  606."      (Duncker.) 

This  last  reason  Keil  has  attacked.  Both  his  arguments  against  it,  which  he  has  drawn 
from  the  state  of  affairs,  are  unimportant.  That  Cyaxares,  soon  after  the  termination  of  the 
Lydian  war,  set  out  against  Nineveh,  has,  according  to  our  representation  of  circumstances 
given  above,  nothing  surprising ;  but  on  the  contrary  it  was  quite  natural.  Nabopolassar 
had  brought  about  a  peace,  in  order  to  bring  the  Mede  into  the  field  against  Nineveh  as  soon 
as  possible ;  for  to  him  delay  was  dangerous.  Nor  is  it  at  all  improbable,  that  soon  after  the 
fall  of  Nineveh,  the  son  of  Nabopolassar,  eager  for  war,  led  his  troops  elated  with  victory 
against  the  Egyptian  Necho,  vanquished  him  and  pursued  him  a  great  distance.  The  third 
objection  is  of  greater  importance.  An  eclipse  of  the  sun,  which,  according  to  the  statement 
of  Herodotus,  was  the  occasion  of  terminating  the  Lydian  war,  cannot  be  established  on  the 
30th  of  September,  610,  but  only  on  the  8th  of  May,  622,  or  on  the  28th  of  May,  585.  The 
last  date  cannot  come  into  consideration  ;  therefore  that  treaty  of  peace  may  be  transferred 
to  the  year  622,  and  the  capture  of  Nineveh  may  fall  nearer  to  this  date  than  to  605.  How- 
ever the  eclipse  of  the  sun  of  September  30,  610,  according  to  Oltmanus  for  those  countries  con- 
cerned, was  not  quite  total,  yet  nearly  so :  only  a  fiftieth  part  of  the  disk  of  the  sun  remained 
uneclipsed.  (Ideler,  ChronoL,  i.  209  ff.)  And  even  if  the  computation  of  certain  English 
astronomers  should  be  correct,  that  the  eclipse  of  the  sun  of  that  date  did  not  touch  Hither 
Asia,  but  went  further  to  the  east  (Nieb  ,  p.  48),  it  would  only  compel  us  to  seek  the  battle- 
field eastward  from  Asia  Minor.  And  considering  the  ambiguity  of  the  expression  of  Herod- 
otus ("  the  day  was  turned  to  night,")  the  possibility  is  not  at  all  excluded,  that  instead  of  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun,  the  reference  is  to  one  of  those  sudden  obscurations  of  the  atmosphere, 
which  often  occur  in  those  countries.  (Dio  Cass.,  Ixvi.  22  ff. ;  Plin.,  Ep.,  vi.  20.  Also  iu 
Matt,  xxvii.  45,  the  statement  does  not  refer  to  an  eclipse  of  the  sun ;  for  the  Passover  fell 
at  the  time  of  the  full  moon.)  At  all  events  the  argument,  which  would  put  in  the  place  of 
an  accord  cf  so  many  consistencies,  a  sum  of  as  many  difficulties  and  contradictions,  is  neither 
evident  en  'ugh  nor  at  all  adequate  to  overthrow  the  synchronism  of  Biblical  and  profane 
writers  given  above.  The  date  computed  by  Seyffarth  for  626  (in  the  appendix  to  the  Ger 
man  translation  of  Layard's  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  p.  476),  entirely  fails. 

[Texts  from  Nahum  quoted  by  Kawlinson,  and  illustrated  by  profane  history  and  recent 
ducoveries :  — 


INTRODUCTION.  113 


Chap.  i.  8,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i.  p.  391 

Chap.  ii.  5,  6,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i.  p.  391 

Chap.  ii.  6,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i.  p.  328 

Chap.  ii.  7,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.   i.  p.  462 

Chap.  iii.  3,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  ii.  p.  25 

Chap.  iii.  8,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.   ii.  p.  150 

Chap.  iii.  8,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  iii.  p.  33 

Chap.  iii.  13,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i.  p.  328 

Chap.  iii.  13,  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i.  p.  391 

Chap.  iii.  18,  19  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i.  p.  392 

Chap.  iii.  18,  19  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i.  p.  409. 

Much  illustrative  matter  on  the  arts,  costume,  miUtary  system,  private  life,  and  re- 
igion  of  the  Assyrians,  is  found  in  Layard's  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  to  which  the  reader 
's  referred.  C.  E.] 

5.  Literature. 

Separate  Commentaries.  —  Th.  Bibliander,  Propheta  Nahum  Juxta  Veritatem  Hebroi- 
cam,  Tig.,  1534,  12mo. 

Lud.  Crocii,  Comm.  in  Nah.  Proph.,  Brem.,  1620,  12mo. 

I.  H.  Ursinus,  Hypomnemata  in  Ohadjam  et  Nahum,   Francf,  1652. 

Abarbanel,  Comm.  in  Nah.  Rabb.  et  Lat.,  ed.  Sprecher,  Helmst.,  1 703. 

I.  G.  Kalinski,  Vaticinia  (Habacuci  et)  Nahumi,  itemque  nonnulla  Jesajoe,  etc.,  illustrata, 
Vratisl.,  1748,  4to. 

Lessing,  Observatt.  in  Vatl.  {Jonce  et)  Nahumi,   Chemn.,  1780. 

C.  F.  Sfaudlin,  (Hosed)  Nahum  (et  Hab.),  neu  iibersetzt  und  erldutert  [newly  translated 
and  explained],  Stuttg.,  1786. 

E.  J.  Greve,  Vatt.  Nah.  et  Hab.,  ed.  metrica,  Amst.,  1793,  4to. 

Eb.  Kreenen,  Nah.  Vaticinium  Philologice  et  Critice  Expositum,  Hardervici,  1808,  4to. 

C.  W.  Justi,  Nah.  neu  iibersetz  und  erldutert  [Nah.  newly  translated  and  explained],  Lpz., 
1820. 

H.  Middeldorpif,  Nahum,  aus  dem  Hebr.  iibersetzt,  mit  Vorwort  und  Anm.  v.  Gurlitt  [Nahum 
translated  from  the  Hebrew,  with  prefece  and  annotations  by  Gurlitt],    Hamb.,  1808. 

A.  G.  Hoelemann,  Nahumi  Oraculum,  etc.,  illustravit,  Lips.,  1842. 

O.  Strauss,  Nahumi  de  Nino  Vaticinium,    Berol.,  1853. 

Separate  Treatises.  —  Ch.  M.  Fraehn,  Curarum  Exegetico-criticarum  in  Nah.  Proph' 
ttam  Specimen,  Rostock,  1806. 

O.  Strauss,  Nineveh  und  das  Wort  Gottes  [Nineveh  and  the  Word  of  God],  Berl.,  1855. 

Vance  Smith,  The  Prophecies  relating  to  Nineveh  and  the  Assyrians,  London,  1S57. 

Mich.  Breiteneicher,  Nineveh  und  Nahum,  Miinchen,  1861. 

L.  Reinke,  Kritik  der  dltern  Versionen  des  Proph.  Nah.  [Critique  of  the  Older  \  «rsions  of 
the  Prophet  Nahum],  Miinster,  1867. 

Devotional.  —  .T.  Quistorp,  Kriegspredigten  oder  Erkldrung  dcs  Propheten  Nahum  [Waf 
Sermons,  or  Eluciilation  of  the  Prophet  Nahum],   Rost.,  1628,  4to. 

D.  Heini-ici,  Nahumus  Pacijicus,  h.  e.  de  Pace  (2,  1),  Lips.,  1650. 
The  Literature  on  Nineveh,  see  above,  Introd.  pp.  8,  9. 

[Matt.  HalTenrefFeri,  Comm.  in  Nahum  et  Habacuc,  Stutgardias,  1663,  4to, 

Vat.  Nahumi  Observatt.  Phil,  illustratum ;  Diss.  praBS.  M.  C.  M.  Agrell,  resp.  N.  S.  Col- 

iander,  Upsalae,  1788,  4to. 

Translations  with  expositions  by  S.  F.  Giinth.  Wahl,  in  his  Mag.     7<>0 ;  H.  A.  Grimm, 

1790;  Moses  Neumann,  Breslau,  1808.  — C.  E.] 


NAHUM. 


CHAPTER   I. 

A  Sublime  Description  of  the  Attributes  and  Operations  of  Jehovah,  with  a  View  to 
inspire  his  People  with  Confidence  in  his  Protection  (vers.  2-8).  The  Assyr- 
ians addressed  and  described  (vers.  9-11).  Their  Destruction  together  with  thi 
Deliverance  of  the  Jews  connected  with  that  Event  (vers.  12-15). 

1  The  Burden  ^  of  Nineveh. 

The  book  of  the  Vision  of  Nahum  the  Elkoshite. 

2  A  Oor!  jealous  and  avenging  is  Jehovah  ; 
Avenging  is  Jehovah  and  a  Lord  ^  of  burning  wrath 
Avenging  is  Jehovah  to  his  adversaries  ; 

And  He  keeps  anger  against  his  enemies. 

3  Jehovah  is  slow  to  anger  and  of  great  strength, 
And  acquitting  He  will  not  acquit  [the  guilty]. 
Jehovah  —  his  way  is  in  the  whirlwind  and  in  the  tempeat  | 
And  clouds  are  the  dust  of  his  feet. 

4  He  rebukes  the  sea  and  makes  it  dry  ; 
And  all  the  rivers  he  drieth  up  : 
Bashan  and  Carmel  languish  ; 

And  the  flower  of  Lebanon  droopeth. 

5  MouuUiius  tremble  because  of  Him, 
And  the  hills  melt  av\  ay  ; 

The  earth  heaves  ^  before  Him, 

AuJ  the'  ^lobc  aiul  all  the  inhabitants  upon  it. 

6  Before  his  anger  who  shall  stand  ? 

And  who  shall  endure  in  the  heat  of  his  wrath? 
His  fui-y  is  poured  out  like  fire  ; 
And  the  rocks  are  shattered  by  Him. 

7  Good  is  Jehovah,  a  fortress  in  the  day  of  trouble, 
And  He  knoweth  those,  who  trust  in  Him. 

8  And  with  an  overflowing  flood 
He  will  make  an  end  of  her  place. 
And  pursue  his  enemies  with  darkness.* 

9  What  devise  ye  against  Jehovah  ? 
He  is  about  to  make  an  end : 

Distress  shall  not  arise  twice. 


LtJ 


NAHUM. 


10  For  thougli  tliey  are  interwoven  like®  thorns, 
And  soaked  with  their  wine, 

They  shall  be  devoured  like  stubble  fully  dry. 

11  From  thee  came  forth 

One  meditating  evil  against  Jehovah, 
Counseling  wickedness. 

12  Thus  saith  Jehovah  : 

Thougli  they  are  complete  and  so  very  numerouSy 
Yet  even  so  are  they  mown  down, 
And  he  has  passed  away. 
Though  I  have  afflicted  thee, 
I  will  afflict  thee  no  more. 

13  And  now  I  will  break  his  yoke  from  off  thee, 
And  bieak  thy  fetters. 

1 4  And  Jehovah  has  given  commandment  concerning  thee : 
No  more  of  thy  name  shall  be  sown ; 

From  the  house  of  thy  gods  I  will  cut  off  the  graven  and  the  molten  iniaga , 
I  will  make  thy  grave,  because  thou  art  despised. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ver.  1.  —  NI&X5 '  LXX.,  ATju^a;  Vulgate,  Onus,  is  derived  from  '^^^j  '"  "***  "Pi  *"  'if*  *V,  to  raise,  and  aignk 
ieB  BomethiDg  uttered.  As  it  is  often  found  in  the  inscriptions  of  threatening  oracles  or  denunciations,  Jerome,  Luther 
the  English  version,  and  others,  have  rendered  it  burden,  meaning  a  threatening  oracle.  Hengstenberg  contends  ( Chrit- 
tology  of  the  O.  T ,  vol.  iii.  pp.  380-384,  on  Zech.  ix.  1 ;  and  vol.  iv  p.  60,  on  Zech.  xii.  1.  Edinburgh :  T.  &  T.  Clark, 
1858),  that  it  always  signifies  burden,  and  occurs  only  in  the  superscription  of  prophecies  announcing  adversity.    Qeseniul 

thinks  that  it  is  used  also  for  the  annunciation  of  good.     Lexicon,  sub  St^D* 
[2  Ver.  2.  —  n?2n  V^3,  lord,  master,  or  possessor,  of  burning  wrath. 

P  Vet.b.  —  '^^i^n  Mtt^ril,  the  earth  heaves;  LXX.,  Kai  dve<TTa\r]  q  y^;  Vulgate,  et  contremuit  terra;  Luther, 
Das  Erdrtich  bebet ;  A.  V.,  "  the  earth  is  burned."' 

[i  Ver.  8.  —  Kleinert  translates  the  last  clause  of  this  verse  :  und  seme  Feinde  verfolgt  Er  mit  Finstemist.  So  doe* 
Luther.  Keil  defends  this  translation  on  the  ground  that  the  translation  of  the  LXX.,  Vulgate,  and  A.  V.  is  irreconciU 
kble  with  tLe  ni,:kkepli,  and  does  not  answer  so  well  the  paralielism  of  the  clauses. 

[6  Ver.  10. —  "T37,   to  the  degree  that,  i.  e.,  like.     See  Gesenius,  b.  v.  — C  E.] 


EXEGETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

Ver.  1.  The  book  has  a  double  title,  like  Ob.  1. 
First,  a  title  of  the  contents :  The  sentence  of  Nin- 
eveh. About  the  signification  of  the  word  Massd 
there  is  a  dispute-  On  the  one  hand  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  it  is  used,  with  preference,  as  a  title 
for  threatening  prophecies  :  Compare  the  series  of 
Massaim,  Is.  xiii.  ff.,  to  which  the  Massa  here  con- 
forms in  a  manifold  relation.  Consequently,  we 
may  suppose  that  the  fundamental  idea  of  a  burden, 
laid  by  God  upon  the  fibject  of  his  threatening,  is 
the  prominent  one.  This  is  the  meaning  that 
Jonathan,  Aquila,  Luther,  and  others,  give  in  their 
translations,  and  which  recently,  Hengstenberg, 
Strauss,  Kurz,  and  Keil  maintain  with  great  force. 
Indeed  the  idea  of  burden  is  very  plainly  derived 

from  the  root  Stt?3,  [to  lift  up. —  C.  E.],  to  bear,  and 
Fuits  the  word  also  in  its  literal  signification  (2 
Kings  V.  17,  and  above).  But  on  the  other  hand 
it  can  just  as  little  be  denied,  that  in  prophecies 
.«uch  as  Zech.  ix.  12,  the  real  contents  can  be  rep- 
resented as  a  threatening  l)urden  only  by  means  of 
critical  subtilty :  namely,  only  in  this  way,  that 
we,  as  Hieronymus  has  already  done  {Ad  Hab.  i.  1  : 
''Massa  minqmtm  prwfertur  in  titulo,  nisi  quum  grave 


ac  ponderis  laborisque  plenum  est  quod  videtur  ") ,  refer 
to  the  serious  and  sorrowful  topics,  which,  beside 
others,  occur  in  this  as  in  every  prophecy,  wherahy 
evidently  the  special  idea  of  threatening  prophecy 
is  set  aside.  This  is  still  clearer  in  the  maxims, 
Prov.  XXX.  and  xxxi.  which,  in  their  titles,  are  also 
styled  Massaim.     Hence,  if  it  is  evident  from  !>x. 

XX.  7 ;  Is.  xlii.  2,  that  the  radical  word  Wtt7J    caa 

signify  also,  by  the  ellipsis  of  vip  (properly  Sti'2 

vip,  to  raise  the  voice),  to  utter  forth,"  to  call," 
then  one  will  have  sure  ground  to  hold  \vith  Hup- 
feld  (on  Ps.  xv.  3)  and  Deliuscu  (on  Is.  xiii.  I), 
that  declaration,  or  sentence,  i^  the  common,  and  in 
all  places  naturally  [ohne  Zwang]  the  proper  sig- 
nification of  the  word ;  the  more,  as  this  signifi- 
cation, both  for  the  verb  and  noun,  undoubtedly 
lies  on  the  face  of  2  Kings  ix.  27  [25].  Moreover, 
in  passages  like  1  Chron.  xv.  27,  with  the  signifi 

cation  of  burden  and  without  supplying  ^^P,  one 
could  arrive  at  no  meaning ;  and  finally  as  in  Jer. 
xxiii.  S-"  ff.,  the  ambiguity,  wliieh  wis  attached  to 
the  word,  by  giving  it  the  meaning  of  burden,  it 
stigmatized  as  impious,  and  consequently  rejected. 
Concerning  Nineveh,  see  the  introduction 


CHAPTER   I. 


The  title  is  connected  witli  the  prophecy  as  an  in- 
tegrant part,  as  the  reference  of  the  suffix  in  ver.  7 
ihows,  and  is  accordingly  lo  be  ascribed  to  the 
prophet  himself.  Of  course  also  the  following  sec- 
ond title  :  Book  of  the  Vision  of  Nahum  the 
Elkoshite  ;  as  also  the  expression  :  Book,  Writing, 
refers  to  a  redaction  of  this  prophecy  already  given 
to  the  public  before  the  compilation  of  the  Canon. 

ll^n  is,  as  in  Is.  i.  1.  the  noinen  aci*  of  rTTH,  the 
t«rm  employed  to  express  prophetical  vision  (comp. 
on  Hab.  i.  1 )  :  that  which  Nahum,  the  Elkoshite 
(3omp.  the  Introd.)  saw. 

[The  first  part  of  the  title  "gives  the  substance 
«nd  object  "  of  the  book  ;  "  the  second  the  form 
and  author." 

"  The  noun  ^  y^'^,  in  the  superscriptions  of  the 
prophecies,  has  been  from  ancient  times  inter- 
preted in  two  different  ways.  According  to  the 
one  interpretation  it  means  burden.  According  to 
the  other  it  means  declaration,  prophecy." 

For  a  discussion  of  these  different  meanings,  see 
Hengsten berg's  Christology  on  Zech.  ix.  1  (vol.  iii. 
pp.  380-384.  Edinburgh':  T.  &  T.  Clark,  1858). 
Where  he  strenuously  advocates  the  meaning  of 
i'urden.     See  also  Keil  on  Nahum  i.  1. 

On  Nineveh  refer  to  (besides  the  Introduction), 
the  Com.  on  Jonah  i.  2.  —  C.  E.] 

Vers.  2-6.  The  Exordium.  The  prophet  begins 
his  announcement  in  the  manner  of  a  psalm,  and 
that  of  the  psalms  of  degrees,  with  a  concatenated 
etructure  of  members  formed  by  repetition  of 
words  (compare  l)eli:zsch,  Psalter,  1867,  p.  692), 
forming  the  way,  as  it  were,  from  the  general 
Btatementb  concerning  God's  holy  wrath  and  right- 
eous jealousy  to  the  special,  approaching  manifes- 
tation [of  God's  righteous  judgment  and  wrath.  — 
C.E.] 

Ver.  2.  A  God  jealous  and  taking  vengeance 
Is  Jehovah.  The  general  statements  Nahum  takes 
from  the  book  of  the  Covenant,  and  that  from  its 
sore,  the  Decalogue,  Ex.  xx.  5.  [Compare  also 
Ex.  xxxiv.  14  ;  Deut.  iv.  24 ;  v.  9.  —  C.  E.]  For 
the  secondary  form  Si3|2,  instead  of  S3|2,  compare 
Josh.  xxiv.  19.  The  jealousy  of  God  arises  from 
his  love  to  his  people.  He  is  jealous  of  his  peo- 
ple, lest  they  should  serve  any  other  god,  lest 
they  should  acknowledge  any  man  as  their  lord 
(Ex.  xxxiv.  14  ;  Deut.  iv.  24) ;  and  he  is  jealous 
for  his  pcopi^,  lest  any  should  approach  them 
with  malicious  intention,  or  for  their  injury  (Deut. 
xxxii.  43).  He  avenges  both ;  and  hence  his 
coming  is  not  merely  (in  the  first  case)  an  object 
tif  fear,  but  also  (in  the  second  case)  an  object  of 
longing  hope  on  the  part  of  his  people.  So  Ps. 
xciv.  1,  and  here. 

The  vengeance  of  God  is  more  strictly  defined 
as  furious  :  An  avenger  is  Jehovah  and  a  mas- 
ter of  fury  (  =  furious,  possidens  iram,  Calv., 
Gen.  xxxvii.  19)  ;  further,  as  aimed  at  his  adver- 
Baries  :  An  avenger  is  Jehovah  with  respect  to 
his  adversaries ;  finally,  as  inevitably  realized ; 
that  can  be  deferred,  but  not  arrested  :  and  one, 
who  keeps  wrath  to  his  enemies  (Ley.  xix.  18.) 
The  three  statements  are  complementary  to  one 
F^nother  (He  can  be  provoked.  He  kindles  into  an- 
aer,  and  keeps  it,  Hitzig),  and  the  threefold  repe- 
tition of  the  word  avenger,  contributes  to  the 
emphatic  prominence  of  the  central  thought,  as  in 
Is.  vi.  3.  The  reference  of  it  by  Tarnov  and 
\Iich.  to  the  Trinity  is  forced. 

It  would  seem  natural,  according  to  the  analogv  of 


!^p3,  and  in  allusion  to  2  d,  to  translate  also  3  a, 
in  strict  conformity  with  the  caiginal  meaning  ot 
the  word :  He  is  long  in  wrath,  (.  e..  He  is  angry 
for  a  long  while.  This,  however,  would  be  agains't 
the  constant  usage  of  the  language,  according  ta 
which  the  combination  SS  fD^QS  T[~ts]  desig 
nates  the  slowness  with  which  his  anger  disiihargcs 
itself.  He  is  slow  to  anger,  long  suffi'ring,  as  He 
had  proved  himself  in  the  present  instance  by  a 
hundred  years'  endurance  of  the  wickedness  of  the 
Assyrians.  The  connection  with  ver.  2  is  anti- 
thetic :  the  whole  verse  is  a  reproduction  of  the 
Mosaic  declarations  concerning  the  nature  of  God 
(Ex.  xxxiv.  6  f.).  But  we  must  not  think  that 
this  delay  arises  from  weakness ;  for  He  is  of 
great  power.  And  just  as  little  should  we  think 
that  it  is  a  remission  of  punishment,  for  He  does 
not  clear  the  guilty  (Ex.  xx.  7;  xx.xiv  7).  He 
is  a  just  judge  ;  and  his  sentence  is  fact.  Calmly 
looking  on  He  ])ermlts  the  vast,  restrained  powei 
of  his  wrath  to  be  accomplished,  until  the  measure 
is  filled  up  and  runs  over.  There  follows  (3  b-6) 
a  description  of  this  actuality  of  God's  judging, 
in  the  general  features  of  the  Theophany,  i.  e.. 
of  an  appearance  of  Jehovah  in  judgment  cop 
nected  with  powerful  signs  in  nature.  These  de 
scriptions,  borrowed  from  Ex.  xix.  occur  in  Judge* 
v.,  and  run  through  the  whole  book  of  Psalms  ■ 
Ps.  xviii.,  1.,  Ixviii.,  xcvii.  Ver.  3  b,  first  of  all 
describes  his  coming,  as  in  Micah  i.,  under  the 
image  of  a  thunder-storm  approaching  with  tero 
pest  speed,  whose  whirling  clouds  swecji  over  the 
earth  (comp.  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  16).  Jehovah,  in  the 
storm  and  in  the  whirlwind  is  his  way.  He 
moves  along  quickly  and  with  power  (Is.  iv.  4)' 
And  clouds  are  the  dust  of  his  feet ;  He  contm 
ues  in  his  approach  a  concealed  God  (Ps.  Ixxvii 
20(19)). 

From  this  image  [of  a  storm]  v^r.  4  changes  t« 
that  of  a  scorching  heat  (comp.  Joel  i.  18  ff. ;  Ps 
Ixxxiii.  15),  in  allusion  to  the  glow  of  wrath,  ver 
2 :  He  threatens  the  sea  and  makes  it  dry.  Th« 
memory  of  the  historical  fact  (Ex.  xiv.  15)  is 
woven  into  the  description  of  the  judgment ;  hence 
the  imp.  attractum  ;  although  the  miraculous  de- 
liverance on  that  occasion  acquires  another  mean- 
ing in  the  coming  to  judgment  (•1'^t??ri^^^Vl; 
comp.  Ges.,  sec.  69,  obs.  6). 

And  He  drieth  up  all  the  rivers,  and  with  them 
the  fountains  of  the  land :  Bashan  and  Carmel 
wither  and  the  blossom  of  Lebanon  withers. 
These  three  extreme  points,  in  East,  West,  and 
North,  are  used  here,  as  they  are  frequently,  for  the 
whole  land.  That  Canaan  is  designated,  although 
the  judgment  was  to  fall  upon  Assyria,  proves,  that 
we  have  to  take  it  n^  n  typical,  that  is  to  say,  as  an 
abstract  desci'iption  of  the  judgment,  not  surely  as 
prophetic  details.  The  same  conclusion  follows 
from  the  interchange  of  the  images,  for  the  differ- 
ent features  [ground-lines]  of  the  separate  theoph- 
anies  described  by  the  Psalms  and  propliets  grad- 
ually meet.  To  the  two  first  he  joins  th".  third,  viz  , 
that  of  an  earthquake  accompanied  with  violent 
rains. 

Ver.  5.  The  mountains  quake  (Am.  viii.  8)  and 
the  hills  melt  away  (comp.  on  Mic.  i.  4);  and 
the  earth  heaves,  with  violent  commotions,  at  his 

presence,  the  manifestation  of  his  clory  (1133, 

Ctt.',  TyS7^))  which  is  revealed  for  the  destructiot 
of  the  wicked  (Ps.  xxxv.  5  ;  Is.  xxx.  27  ff.)  ;  and 
the  circle  of  ihe  earth  (the    nliabitcd  land,  Jot 


1» 


NAHUM. 


xxxvii.  1 2 ;  0 .  S  trauss )  with  all  that  dwell  thereon. 
Kt&3  is  intransitive,  as  in  Hos.  xiii.  1 ;  Hab.  i.  3 
( Abarb.,  Cocc,  Hitz.) ,  The  signification,  to  shriek, 
(O.  Strauss)  is  possible,  and  would  not  eren  here  be 
unmeaning,  but  it  does  not  suit  the  tigure.  It  is 
natural  that  all  things  should  tremble,  for  the 
judgment  is  irresistible,  before  which  everything 
must  fall. 

Ver.  6  :  Before  his  fury  who  can  stand  ?  irapf. 
potent.,  comp.  Ps.  xv.  1.  And  who  can  endure 
the  fierceness  of  his  anger?  (Jer.  x.  10.)  His 
fury  pours  itself  out  like  fire  and  the  rocks  are 

shattered  (the  syllable  ^-^  is  repeated  onomato- 
poetically)  before  Him.  With  storm  and  dark 
;Iouds,  with  sultriness  and  reeling  of  the  eartli,  the 
thunder-storm  bursts  forth  ;  the  last  catastrophe  is 
the  fiery  eruption  ;  and  it  is  at  hand. 

[Vers.  2-6.  "  The  description  of  the  divine  jus- 
tice, and  its  judicial  manifestation  on  the  earth, 
with  which  Nahum  introduces  his  prophecy  con- 
cerning Nineveh,  has  this  double  object:  first  of 
all,  to  indicate  the  connection  between  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  capital  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  which 
is  about  to  be  predicted,  and  the  divine  purpose  of 
salvation;  and  secondly,  to  cut  off  at  the  ''•ery 
outset  all  doubt  as  to  the  realization  of  this  judg- 
ment."    Keil  and  Delitzsch.  —  C.  E.] 

Vers.  7-14.  The  Announcement.  The  transition 
to  the  impending  confirmation  of  the  avenging  zeal 
of  God.  It  is  introduced  by  a  reference  to  the 
goodness  of  God  to  those  who  trust  in  Him ;  on 
the  one  hand  that  his  wrath  may  enter  into  more 
striking  contrast  with  it ;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  ethical  ground  of  this  wrath  in  the  nature 
of  God  may  not  be  mistaken.  This  double  turn 
governs  the  whole  announcement,  so  that  it  con- 
stantly fluctuates  between  threatening  and  conso- 
lation, between  Nineveh  and  Judah. 

Good  is  Jehovah,  not  unfavorably  disposed,  but 
full  of  tender  inclination  of  heart  (Ts.  Ixxxvi.  5 ; 
cxiiii.  10),  a  refuge  in  the  time  of  trouble  ;  ;^>i^ 

is  not  to  be  construed  with  Ti^^?;  good  for  a  ref- 
uge ;  which  would  be  a  Germanism  ;  but  both  are 
coordinate  predicates.  But  He  is  not  good  to  all 
(Ps.  Ixxiii.  1 ) :  He  knows  them  that  trust  in  Him. 

-""T^  stands  emphatically  for  the  knowledge,  with 
which  God  fosteis  and  provides  for  his  elect,  and 
which  is  experienced  by  them  (Hos.  xiii.  5). 

Therefore  it  is  no  contradiction,  when  ver.  8  adds  : 
But  with  an  overflowing  flood  He  will  make  an 
end  of  her  place:  not  with  an  unjust  destruction, 
but  with  the  divine  justice  overwhelming  the  wicked 
(Is.  TL.'i'l  f).     Calvin:  cum  inundations  transiens, 

1  [Calvin  :  "  By  inundation,  then,  he,  in  passing,  wilt 
make  a  consummation  in  hn  place  ;  that  is,  God  will  sud- 
lenly  overwhelm  the  Assyrians  as  though  a  deluge  should 
rise  to  cover  the  whole  earth.  Ue  intimates,  that  Uod 
would  not  punish  the  Assyrians  by  degrees,  as  men  some- 
times do,  who  proceed  step  by  step  to  avenge  themselves, 
but  suddenly.  Ood,  be  says,  will  of  a  sudden  thunder 
against  the  Assyrians,  as  when  a  deluge  comes  over  a  land. 
Hence  this  passing  of  Ood  is  opposed  to  long  or  slow  prog- 
ress ;  as  though  he  said,  <  As  soon  as  God's  wrath  shall 
break  forth  or  come  upon  the  Assyrians,  it  will  be  all  over, 
for  a  consummation  will  immediately  follow :  by  inunda- 
tion, lie,  passing  through,  will  make  a  consummation  in 
her  place.'  By  place  he  means  the  ground ;  as  though  be 
aad  said,  that  God  would  not  only  destroy  the  face  of  the 
land,  but  would  also  destroy  the  very  ground,  and  utterly 
lemoLish  it.  A  feminine  pronoun  is  here  added,  because  he 
-peakF  of  the  kingdom  or  nation,  as  it  is  usual  in  Hebrew. 
Bat  y   oujfht    espeiially    to  be   noticed,  that  the  Prophet 


because   the  word  ^I0tt7  may  be    designated    ai 

feminine  by  the  suffix  attached  to  HDIptt.  But 
this  suffix  refers  to  Nineveh  (Hitz.,  Strauss),  to 
which,  withdrawing  his  mind  from  the  considerap 
tion  of  the  divine  wrath  and  zealous  love,  the 
prophet  now  turns  with  energetic  change  of  ad- 
dress.     The  completeness   of  the   destruction  is 

expressed  by  H^S,  finishing  stroke,  utter  ruin 
(the  construction  is  here  that  of  the  double  ace), 
but  still  more  by  the  fact,  that  not  merely  the  city 
itself,  but  even  its  place  is  mentioned  as  the  object 
of  the  same  destruction.  Concerning  the  special 
reason,  which  the  prophet  had  for  employing,  to 
describe  this  destruction,  the  image  of  a  flood,  evi- 
dently borrowed  from  Amos  ix.  5,  compare  the  In- 
troduction, 4,  p.  11  and  the  Com.  on.  ii.  7. 

And  he  will  pursue  his  enemies  with  [into] 
darkness.  [Henderson  and  Newcome  render  it : 
"  And  darkness  shall  pursue  his  enemies."  So  alsc 
the  LXX  and  the  A'"ulgate.  Luther  and  Kleinert ; 
Und  Seine  Feinde  verfoU/t  Er  mit  Finsterniss.  —  C. 
E.]  Light  is  the  emblem  of  good  and  salvatioii 
(comp.  Num.  vi.  2.5) ;  darkness,  of  wrath  and  de- 
struction (Ps.  Ixxxviii.  1 9 ;  comp.  also  the  Introd. 
4,  p.  11).     And  resistance  is  useless. 

Ver.  9  What  devise  ye  against  Jehovah? 
Eosenm.,  Strauss,  Keil :  -  "  What  think  ye  against 

Jehovah  ?  "     This,  however,  is   feeble.    "  vS    fr©. 

quently,  moreover,  takes  the  place  of  'V,  and  in 
relation  to  Jehovah  the  scheme  of  the  enemies  is  of 
a  character  hostile  to  Him."  Hitzig.  Compare 
also  Hos.  vii.  15.  The  prophet  imagines,  as  ad- 
dressed, all  who  doubt  the  announcement;  not  only 
the  external  Jews  (Strauss,  Keil),  whose  doubt, 
moreover,  was,  in  the  estimation  of  the  prophet,  a 
thouglit  against  Jehovah  (Is.  vii.  10  ff.) ;  but  also 
the  enemies,  who  still  imagined  that  they  would, 
by  means  of  preparation  for  dcri^n^e,  be  able  to 
escape  from  the  hand  of  God  (ii.  2).  It  is  in 
vain :  He  makes  an  utter  ruin.  The  part,  ex- 
presses the  absolute  fixedness  of  the  decree. 

For  the  affliction  shall  not  arise  twice,  namely, 
the  affliction  mentioned  ver.  7,  the  affliction,  which 
his  people  should  suffer  from  Assyria,  in  which 
they  took  refuge  in  Him.  It  is  too  coniidently  as- 
serted that  an  argument  is  found  in  the  verse  foi 
placing  the  composition  [of  this  huuk]  immediately 
after  the  catastrophe  of  Sennacherib.  His  inva- 
sion was  not  the  first  trouble  that  Judah  experi- 
enced from  Assyria,  but  already  the  second  or  third. 
(2  Chron.  xxviii.  20  f.  mentions  a  siege  by  Tig- 
lath-Pileser ;  and  even  if  one  would  not  ascritw  to 
it  the  origin  of  the  imposition  of  tribute  upon  Hez- 

threatens  the  Assyrians,  that  God  would  entirely  subverl 
them,  that  He  would  not  only  demolish  the  surface,  a» 
when  fire  or  waters  destroy  houses,  but  that  the  Lord 
would  reduce  to  nothing  the  laud  itself,  even  the  very 
ground."  —  C.  E.] 

•2  [Keil's  view  requires  :  What  think  ye  of  Jehovah  ?  H« 
says :  "  The  question  in  9  a  is  not  addressed  to  the  enemy, 
viz.,  the  Assyrians,  as  very  many  commentators  suppose- 
'  What  do  ye  meditate  against  .Ichovah  ?  '  For  although 
Chasabk  'el  is  used  in  Hos.  vii.  16  for  a  hostile  device  in 
regard  to  Jehovah,  the  supposition  that  V/  is  used  here  for 
'a/,  according  to  a  later  usage  of  the  language,  is  precluded 

by  the  fact  that  vl7  3U17n  is  actually  used  in  this  fenM 
in  ver.  11." 

The  LXX.  have  eVl  rbi'  Kupioi' ;  the  Vulgate  ha«  ContTs 
Dominum.  Lather;  Was  gedenket  ih  wider  den  Herrn  T  - 
0.  K] 


CHAPTER  1. 


19 


ekiah,  we  must  still  admit  that  there  was  an  op- 
pression by  Sargon,  the  conqueror  of  Samaria, 
which  is  highly  probable,  taking  into  considera- 
tion his  enterprises  against  Egypt.) 

The  prophecy  has  principally  to  do  with  the 
affliction  experienced  from  the  hand  of  Assyria, 
Conformable  to  the  same  view  is  the  translation  of 
Marck,  Strauss,  and  others  :  the  enemy,  to  wit, 
Nineveh,  will  not  arise  twice.    However  this  is,  on 

account  of  the    m!J  in  ver.  7,  not  very  probable. 
Ver.  10.      But  with  a  single  stroke  the  trouble 

ends :  in  thorns  they  are  entangled  [TV  as  in 
Is.  xxxvii.  3,  in  the  place  from  which  one  cannot 
extricate  himself,  in  which  one  is  fettered],  so  that 
they  find  no  escape,  at  the  time  of  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  divine  wrath  (comp.  Mic.  vii.  4),  but 
they  are  burned  with  the  thorns  (Eccl.  vii.  6) ;  and 
while  they  are  drowned  in  their  carousing. 

CSDD  is  not,  as  the  commentators  think,  a  sub- 
stantive, but  the  infinitive  of  the  same  verb  SDD 
(Is.  Ivi.  12),  whose  passive  participle  follows;  and 

2  is  temporal,  as  in  Is.  xviii.  4  f  ]  i.  e.,  they  are 
swallowed  by  the  flood  (ver.  8),  they  are  consumed 

by  the  fire  (Is  v.  24),  hke  stubble  fully  dry.  S7"!2 

is  an  adverb  modifying  ^^'^  (comp.  Evr.,  279  a ; 
Mic.  ii.  't).  Diodorus  Siculus,  ii.  26,  following 
Ctesias  (comp.  the  Introd.  4,  p.  11),  describes 
the  di-unkenness,  in  which  the  last  king  of  Nineveh 
was  surprised  by  destruction.  [Ewald,  and  also 
Hitzig  with  a  few  changes,  introduce  an  antithesis 
into  the  three  members.  Even  should  they  be  like 
wicker-work  of  twisted  thorns,  and  as  moist  as  their 
wine  itself,  yet  shall  they  be  consumed  by  the  fire 
like  dry  stubble.  Similarly  also,  Keil.  The  an- 
tithesis between  b  and  c  would  be  striking,  and  at 
the  same  time,  as  Hitzig  remarks,  witty ;  but  be- 
tween a  and  c  none  exists ;  and  the  irony,  which 
exists  in  our  wording,  is  more  earnest,  perhaps  also 
more  becoming  the  prophet.]  The  change  and  the 
apparent  inconsistency  of  the  accumulated  images 
are  accounted  for,  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  inwoven 
hint  at  the  reality  (comp.  on  ii.  17) ;  on  the  other 
hand,  by  the  -xdvacity  of  the  prophet's  language 
(Introd.  i.),  which  manifests  itself  directly  again 
(ver.  11)  in  the  shifting  of  the  person  addressed. 

From  thee,  Nineveh,  has  he  gone  out  [not  out 
of  thee,  viz.,  Jerusalem,  has  He  gone  out  hence, 

retreated  (Holemann,  Strauss) :   the  formula   S!i^ 

1^  has  a  fixed  meaning  (Mic.  v.  2  ;  Gen.  xvii.  6 
and  above)  ],  who  meditated  evil  against  Jeho- 
vah, who  advised  worthlessness.  It  is  difiicult 
to  tliink  of  a  definite  person  (according  to  the  old 
nterpreters,  Rabshakeh),  but,  like  ver.  9,  we  must 
understand  it  of  the  constant  hostility  of  the  kings 
of  Nineveh  against  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  is 
typically  expressed  in  the  name  Nimrod,  Mic.  v.  5. 
So  then  finally  the  discourse,  ver.  12  ff.,  culminates 
in  the  Divine  Sentence  of  annihilation :  Thus 
speaks  Jehovah  ;  however  complete  and  nu- 
merous they  are  :  however  numerous  they  are, 
they  shaU  be  cut  oflF:  subito  et  tanquam  falce 
memoria  abscinduntur.  Kreenen.  And  he  passes 
iway,  who  went  out  with  mischief  (Is.  xxix.  5). 
But  the  sentence  has  two  sides :  a  terrible  one  for 
Nineveh,  a  consoling  one  for  God's  people,  ver.  7  : 
knd  though  I  have  afOicted  thee,  I  will  aflUct 
*hee  no  more.  For  the  sense,  compare  9c;  for 
the  construction,  Micah  vii.  8. 
Ver.  13.     But  now  (to  the  prophet's  mind)  in 


the  nearest  present  ^Micah  iv.  9), —  all  prophetic 
visions  have  the  iv  raxet  in  themselves  (Rev.  x.  1) 
—  I  wiU  break  his  yoke  from  off  thee  and  will 
burst  thy  bonds :  the  day  has  come,  which  I  have 
long  ago  announced  to  thee  (Is.  x.  24,  27). 

But  the  discourse,  ver.  14,  turns  again  to  Nin 
eveh:  concerning  thee,  Jehovah  has  given  a 
command :  no  more  shall  there  be  seed  of  thy 
name ;  literally,  it  shall  no  more  be  sown  of  thy 

name.  As  from  •TT'S,  house,  comes  the  Niph. 
denom.  H^S^,  a  house,  i.  e.,  offspring,  is  raised 
for  me  [literally,  I  shall  be  built  —  C.  E.]  ;  so 
from  2?"1T,  seed,  comes  the  Niphal  ^^^-T"),  seed 
springs  up  [literally,  shall  be  sown  —  C.  E.].  The 
race  is  to  be  destroyed  forever. 

From  the  house  of  thy  God  I  will  destroy 
the  graven  image ;  in  the  fate  of  the  national  god 
is  represented  the  fate  of  the  nation  (Is.  xxxvi.  18). 

Yes,  thy  molten  image  will  I  make  thy 
grave.  Thy  temple  shall  fall  over  thee,  so  that 
thou  shalt  perish,  where  thou  seekest  refuge  :  an- 
tithesis to  ver.  7  (comp.  Is.  xxxvii.  38).  Such  ia 
the  connection  pointed  out  by  the  accents,  and 
Grot.,  Drus.,  Rosenm.,  Botticher,  and  others  fol- 
low them.  [On  the  other  hand,  Hitzig,  Strauss,  and 

Keil  connect  rtDDQ  with  what  precedes,  and  trans- 
late T'l^p  D'^tt7S  "I  will  prepare  thy  grave,"] 
For  thou  art  found  light.     Compare  Dan.  v.  27. 

[Keil :  "  To  confirm  the  threat  expressed  in 
vers.  8-11,  Nahum  explains  the  divine  purposa 
more  fully.  Jehovah  hath  spoken  :  the  complete- 
ness and  strength  of  her  army  will  be  of  no  help 
to  Nineveh  ;  vers.  12-14. 

"  It  is  not  the  King  of  Assyria  who  is  here  ad 
dressed,  but  the  Assyrian  power  personified  as  a 
single  man,  as  we  may  see  ft-om  what  follows,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  idols  are  to  be  rooted  out 
along  with  the  seed  from  the  house  of  God,  i.  e. 
out  of  the  idol  temples  (cf  Is.  xxxvii.  38,  xliv.  13) 
Pesel  and  massekhdh  are  combined,  as  in  Deut. 
xxvii.  1.5,  to  denote  every  kind  of  idolatrous  image 
For  the  idolatry  of  Assyria,  see  Layard's  Nineveh 

and  its  Remains,  ii.  p.  439  seq.  '^TT'^P  D^tt'S  can- 
not mean,  "  I  make  the  temple  of  thy  god  into  a 
grave,"  although  this  meaning  has  already  been 
expressed  in  the  Chaldee  and  Syriac;  and  the 
Masoretic  accentuation,  which  connects  the  words 
with   what  precedes,  is  also  founded  upon  this 

view.  If  an  object  had  to  be  supplied  to  Dice's 
from  the  context,  it  must  be  pesel  umassekhdh  ; 
but  there  would  be  no  sense  in  "  I  make  thine  idol 
into  a  grave."  There  is  no  other  course  left,  there- 
fore, than  to  take  ^T??!?  as  the  nearest  and  only 
object  of  C'li^M,  "  I  lay,  i.  e.,  prepare  thy  grave." 

nlvp  "^3,  because,  when  weighed  according  to 
thy  moral  worth  (Job  xxxi.  6),  thou  hast  been 
been  found  light  (cf  Dan.  v.  27).  Hence  the 
widespread  opinion,  that  the  murder  of  Sennach- 
erib (Is.  xxxvii.  .38 ;  2  Kings  xix.  37)  is  pre- 
dicted here,  must  be  rejected  as  erroneous  and 
irreconcilable  with  the  words,  and  not  even  so  far 
correct  as  that  Nahum  makes  any  allusion  to  that 
event.  He  simply  announces  the  utter  destruction 
of  the  Assyrian  power,  together  with  its  idolatry, 
upon  which  that  rested.  Jehovah  has  prepared  a 
grave  tor  the  people  and  their  idols,  because  they 
have  been  found  light  when  weighed  in  the  balance! 
of  righteousness." 


20 


NAHUM. 


Henderson's  translation  is:  "From  the  house 
of  tliy  jrods  I  will  cut  off  the  graven  and  the 
molten  iinajre ;  I  will  make  it  thv  grave,  because 
thou  art  worthless."  He  applies  Uie  threat  to  the 
Assyrian  monarch,  who  was  slain  by  his  sons,  while 
he  was  worsiiippinf;:  in  the  house  of  Nisroch  his 
god,  2  Kin<^s  xix.  37.  "  The  Mcdes  bein;^  threat 
enemies  to  idolatry,  those  of  them  who  composed 
the  army  of  Cvaxares  would  take  singular  pleas- 
ure in  destroying  the  idols  which  they  found  in 
the  chief  temple  at  Nineveh." 

Newcome  understands  the  language,  "  there 
shall  not  be  sown  of  thy  name  any  more,"  to  refer 
to  colonies:  ''That  no  more  of  thy  colonies  be 
transplanted  to  other  countries."  —  C.  E] 


DOCTRINAL   AND   ETHICAL.  1 

The  matter  in  question  in  prophecy  is  not  the 
foretelling  of  single  facts,  but  the  exposition  of  the 
laws  and  dispensations  of  the  Divine  government 
of  the  world,  which  result  from  the  holy  nature  of 
God,  and  from  the  fact  that  He  governs  the  world 
with  a  view  to  his  Kingdom.  Therefore  the  proph- 
et Nahum  also,  who  more  than  others  might  be 
suspected  of  having,  like  the  heathen  diviners, 
but  one  catastrophe  of  the  future  in  view,  begins 
his  prediction,  by  causing  the  light  of  God  to 
shine,  in  which  He  would  have  his  prophecy  viewed 
and  understood.  It  treats  of  the  destruction  of 
an  enemy  of  God,  and  of  such  a  one,  as  is  found 
too  light  on  the  just  and  infallible  balances  of 
God.  He  articulates  the  judgment  of  Nineveh  into 
the  joint  connection  of  the  one  Divine  judgment 
of  the  world,  which  began  with  the  destruction  of 
the  Egyptians  in  the  Hed  Sea  (along  with  his  rev- 
elation to  his  people),  and  which  shall  end  in 
the  final  judgment  of  all  those  who  are  disobe- 
dient (Micah  V.  14). 

God's  essence  is  light,  warming  and  blessing 
those  who  love  Him  and  trust  in  Him  (comp.  Ps. 
cxxxix-  11  wir.b  ver.  7);  but  consuming  to  his 
adversaries.  Both  meet  in  the  zeal  of  God, 
which  includes  in  it  potentially  all  the  warmth 
of  love  and  all  the  heat  of  wrath  (Cant.  viii.  6) ; 
even  the  ardor  of  his  wrath  springs  from  love 
(Ex.  xxxiv.  14;  xx.  5).  But  if  God  reserves  his 
wrath  for  the  wicked,  He  does  not  do  so  out  of 
any  feeling  of  grudge,  as  a  revengeful  man  might 
picture  God  in  his  imagination,  but  because  of 
His  righteousness,  which  by  forgetting  would  de- 
stroy itself.  The  unjust  verdict  of  man  originates 
in  forgetfulncss  (Ps.  ciii.  2).  God  reserves  wrath, 
not  because  He  is  angry,  but  because  He  is  slow 
to  anger,  and  allows  much  to  be  accumulated, 
before  He  resolves  upon  judgment.  He  knows 
that  his  judgment  is  terrible.  The  reserving  of 
his  wrath  has  the  same  root  as  the  knowledge  of 
his  own.  He  is  pure  Spirit,  hence  pure  under- 
Btandi.ig,  pure  wisdom,  and  also  pure  memory. 
Forgiving  and  forgetting  belong  to  the  self-for- 
bearance of  God  (Is.  xliii.  25).  If  a  man,  or  a 
nation,  should  succee<l  in  suddenly  placing  the 
whole  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  peril  of  destruction, 
then  we  could  better  comprehend  the  emphasis, 
with  which  the  jiroijliPts  speak  of  the  avenging 
iteal  of  God.  Whoever  oppresses  Israel  is  guilty 
of  this  very  thing  in  the  estimation  of  the  prophet. 
The  world-power  is  the  Old  Testament  form  of 
Antichrist,  just  as  Israel  is  the  Old  Testament 
form  of  Christ  (Heb.  xi.  26).    Hence  John,  in  the 

1  \_IUiiJisg*danken.   Bee  note,  Com.  on  Jouah,  p.   20.  — 

7  n 


Apocalypse,  describing  great  Babylon,  makes  fre- 
quent use  of  this  pro])het.  The  world  power,  in- 
deed, in  its  effects,  is  an  instrument  and  scourge 
of  Jehijvah,  and  thus  it  belongs  to  the  phenomena 
of  judgment,  which  commenced  in  the  Holy  Land: 
but  its  disposition  is  hostile  to  God,  and  this  comes 
to  light  in  its  execution  of  his  judgments  (Zech. 
i.  15).  He  decrees  chastisement  against  Israel; 
it  devises  mischief  against  Jehovah  (comp.  Is. 
xxx\'ii.  10)  :  He  intends  a  rod:  it  makes  out  of 
that  a  yoke;  and  therefore  it  becomes  subject  to 
judgment. 

Jehovah  himself  is  a  refuge :  his  judgments  are 
accomplished  by  means  —  thunderstorm,  waves, 
and  darkness.  So  appeared  He  also  to  Elijati,  not 
in  storm,  tempest,  and  earthquake,  which  passed 
before  him,  but  in  the  still  voice. 

The  whole  creation  falls  under  the  judgment 
of  God  in  painftil  commotion.  For  it  was  made 
for  man  and  united  by  God  to  him  in  indisso- 
luble unity.  Hence  the  land  is  involved  in  the 
penal  sufferings  of  its  inhabitants  ;  and  the  crea- 
ture longs  to  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of 
this  transitory  existence  into  the  glory  of  the 
children  ot  God,  which  is  promised  to  it  also  (Gen. 
iii. ;  Rom.  viii. ;  Is.  xi.  65).  As  the  earth  stained 
with  the  sin  of  the  Adamites-  must  go  through 
the  destructive  purifying  bath  of  the  Flood,  so  the 
site  of  Nineveh  must  go  through  the  purifying 
waves  of  God's  new  judgment. 

As  tiie  judgment  of  Nineveh  is  only  a  reflection 
in  time  of  the  one  eternal  judgment,  so  also  is  its 
result,  the  deliverance  of  the  Church  from  tho 
yoke  of  Nineveh,  only  one  in  the  series  of  God's 
deliverances,  which  are  fundamentally  but  one  de- 
liverance. For  they  all  proceed  from  the  heart  of 
the  one  kind  God,  who  knows  those  who  trust  in 
Him ;  and  all  are  of  no  effect,  if  not  embraced 
with  faith  in  God-  Each  preceding  judgment 
presignifying  the  final  judgment,  contaius  iti 
characteristics  :  each  of  the  foregoing  dcliverancea 
will  receive  its  perfect  light  only  from  the  final 
redemption. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  to  the  prophetical  vision 
the  great  city  is  in  itself,  in  a  certain  sense,  an  ob- 
ject of  the  Divine  displeasure.  The  destruction 
of  each  of  the  great  cities,  which  have  come  into 
contact  with  the  history  of  the  Kingdom  cf  God, 
has  been  the  subject  of  prophecy :  e.  g.,  Nineveh 
Babylon,  Jerusalem,  Rome.  As  the  founding  of 
cities  had  its  origin  in  the  anguish  of  conscience  ex 
perienced  by  Cain,  who,  with  the  consciousness  of 
the  guilt  of  murder,  sought  society  in  order  to  find 
protection  in  it,  so  one  after  another  of  the  great 
cities  is  swept  away,  because  they  become  in  them- 
selves cities  of  murder  (Is,  i.  21).  Living  together 
unfetters  the  consciousness  of  power  for  insolence, 
and  the  overthrow  of  the  tower  of  Babel  is  a  type 
of  each  succeeding  Babel.  [The  concatenation  of 
the  inward  and  outward  crisis  prevailing  therein, 
which  the  prophets  represent  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  everlasting  laws  of  God,  Schiller  has, 
with  penetration,  more  fully  carried  out  in  his 
"  Walk,"  by  imitating  the  prophets,  but  obscured 
it  by  Hellenistic  turns.  From  this  we  can  under- 
stand how  it  was  necessary  for  Micah  to  depict  the 
future  Jerusalem  (iv.  1)  as  being  built  upon  the 
ruins  of  the  present  (iii.  12). 

The  relation  of  the  heathen  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God  falls,  in  the  Old  Testament,  under  a  twofold 
point  of  view.  On  t/ip  one  hand  the  heathen  are 
included  from  the  beginning  in  the  purpose  of  the 

2  [This  cxpriNssiou  3oes  not  necessarily  imply  that  thi 
whole  huiii.in  ra<-e  was   not   le.sceniled  from  Adam.  —  0.  IE.] 


CHAPTER  I. 


21 


fa'ngdom.  It  ;8  true  that  in  the  Torah,  according 
to  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  relation  in  which 
God's  plans  extend  also  over  the  heathen,  is 
thrown  more  in  the  hack,  i^round.  Here  the 
election  of  Israel  stands  in  the  foreground,  and 
the  acts  of  God  toward  the  heathen  are  manifesta- 
tions of  his  glory  in  favor  of  Israel.  The  admis- 
sion of  the  heathen  into  Israel  has,  in  the  mean 
time,  only  the  painful  form  of  circumcision,  by 
which  they  could  enter  as  servants  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  chosen  people.  However,  Dent,  xxxii. 
8  presents  already  a  wider  field  of  view ;  and 
further  on  the  bearing  of  that  statement  becomes 
always  more  distinct.  Jehovah  brought  the  Phil- 
istines from  Caphtor,  and  the  Syrians  from  Kir 
(Am.  ix.  7).  He  weakens  the  Egj'ptians  by  in- 
surrection (Is.  xix),  even  where  no  mention  is 
made  of  collision  with  Israel.  He  gives  to  Neb- 
achadnezzar  the  countries  of  the  earth  (Jer.  xxv.). 
The  kings,  who  destroy  Babylon,  are  his  instru- 
•nents  (Ez.  xxxi.  9;  Is.  xiii.  3  ff.)  ;  so  also  is 
CvTus,  though  he  knows  it  not  (Is.  xli.  46).  And 
thus  the  heathen  world  enters  by  degrees,  in  a 
form  adequate  to  the  original  (Gen.  xii.  3,  comp.  ix. 
27),  into  the  circle  of  the  expectation  of  Salva- 
tion :  the  universality  of  salvation,  the  participa- 
tion of  all  the  heathen  in  it  is  a  vital  moment 
thereof  (Is.  xlv.  22  ;  Ps.  Ixxxvii.).  But  on  the  othei- 
band  the  heathen  also  come  into  consideration  as 
the  conscious  enemies  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
The  world-powers  are  scourges  in  His  hand  to 
chastise  his  people  (Is.  x. ;  Hab.  i.)  But  their 
minds  are  elated  with  pride  and  arrogance  (Hab. 
i.  7,  11),  and  hence  they  carry  to  excess  the  power 
of  punishment  committed  to  them  temporarily 
(Zech.  1.  15),  presume  to  attribute  their  success  to 
themselves  in  defiance  of  the  God  of  Israel  (Is. 
xxxvii  10),  and  continue  in  their  hostility  against 
Him  (Nah.  i.  11).  It  follows  then,  that  there  is  a 
difference  between  the  heathen,  who  hear,  and 
those  who  hear  not  (comp.  Com.  on  Micah  v.  14). 
The  former  will  be  added  to  the  people  of  God : 
the  latter  are  subjected  to  various  overwhelming 
judgments,  which  will  hereafter  find  their  comple- 
tion in  the  final  judgment. 

SCHMiEDER  :  It  is  according  to  the  style  of 
prophecy  to  view  each  judgment  upon  the  enemies 
of  God  and  of  his  people  as  a  type  of  the  last 
judgment.  As  long  as  the  people  of  God  sin 
against  the  Lord,  they  will  certainly  always  and 
always  again  be  subjected  to  new  scourges  of  hos- 
tile nations.  But  to  the  converted,  who  are  the 
genuine  seed  of  Israel,  each  deliverance  from  any- 
hostile  power  is  an  image  and  pledge  of  the  last 
complete  redemption,  and  the  prophets,  filled  with 
the  Spirit  of  God,  so  speak  that  the  vista  is  always 
open  to  this. 

HOMILETICAL. 

Vers.  2-6.   The  glon/  of  the  Lord  in  his  judgments. 

1.  He  honors  his  word,  vers.  2  a-c,  3  c. 

2.  He  proves  His  eternal  omniscience,  2  d. 

3.  He  puts  to  shame  those  who  consider  His 
orbearance  weakness,  3  a. 

4.  He  proves  his  glorious  and  irresistible  (6ab) 
power  as  Creator  over  the  whole  world,  nature, 
and  men,  3  b-6. 

Vers.  7-14.  The  consolation  of  the  pious  in  the 
ffreat  judgments  of  God. 

1 .  Their  refuge  in  God,  ver.  7  a. 

2.  None  of  them  can  be  lost,  7  c. ;  comp.  Ez.  9. 

3.  His  floods  destroy  only  his  enemies,  and  his 
darkness  is  dark  to  tbem  only,  ver.  8. 


4.  His  terrors  will  make  a  free  course  for  his 
Kingdom,  for 

(a.)  They  bring  the  hostility  against  Him  to  an 
end,  ver.  9,  and  Am.  ix.  5. 

(b.)  They  terminate  the  severe  purifying  chas 
tisements  of  his  friends,  vers.  10-12;  Ps,  Ixxv.  4. 

(c.)  Their  end  is  redemption,  ver.  13. 

."5.  And  even  to  the  last  judgment,  every  thing 
which  comes  from  Him,  is  ii  accordance  with 
justice,  ver.  14. 

Vers.  2-8.  Advent-sermon :  Make  haste  to  be 
saved.  Eor  (1)  look  at  the  misery  in  which  thou 
standest :  a  guilty  and  impotent  being  before  the 
Holy  and  Almighty  One  (ver.  2-6);  (2)  look  at 
the  salvation  which  is  offered  thee  (ver.  7)  ;  (3) 
l(jok  at  the  wretchedness  of  those,  who  refuse  to 
be  saved  (ver.  8). 

On  ver.  2.  Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay, 
saith  .Jehuvah  ;  He  says  it,  that  we  may  be  still, 
and  that  our  heart  may  learn  to  give  way  to  the 
wrath  of  God.  If  we  had  Nahum's  faith,  we 
would  be  Nahums  too,  i.  e.,  consolatory.  We 
would  then  also  learn  to  intercede ;  for  he,  with 
whom  God  is  long-suttering,  deserves  compassion. 
This  is  also  the  case  among  men.  He  who  is 
speedily  ready  for  action  has  usually  little  power. 
God's  forgiveness  does  not  proceed  from  weakness 
of  mind  like  that  of  Eli.  The  latter  does  not 
punish  because  he  cannot;  but  God  forgives,  al- 
though He  cannot,  according  to  his  nature,  allow 
sin  to  go  unpunished.  Hence  follows  the  necessity 
of  the  expiatory  death  of  Christ.  We  do  not  see 
the  ways  of  God,  even  though  they  are  very  near 
to  us  .(Ps.  Ixxvii.  20(19)).  That  should  not  in- 
duce us  to  go  astray ;  but  inspire  us  with  confi- 
dence. Where  God  approaches,  there  a  cloud  of 
dust  arises  :  a  cloud  is  the  dust  of  his  feet.  God 
treads  under  foot  nothing,  which  is  not  already  in 
itself  rubbish,  ver.  4,  Ex.  xiv.  15;  Is.  iii.  —  Ver. 
6.  Before  Him  mountains  and  rocks  are  dashed  to 
pieces :  before  Him  even  the  hardest  heart  cannot 
stand.  [Vers.  3  b-6  gives  a  beautiful  and  striking 
allegory  of  the  approaching  hour  of  death.  Dark- 
ness comes  before  the  eyes :  the  heart  disturbed 
and  agitated  by  earthly  cares,  becomes  all  at  once 
withered  as  it  were  with  reference  to  these  things  : 
every  delight  of  the  eye  loses  its  charm :  ambitious 
pride  vanishes  and  the  flesh  trembles ;  and  in  the 
conscience  begins  the  burning  feeling  of  divine 
wrath.  Then  the  heart  learns  to  flee  to  God  (ver. 
7). J — Ver.  7.  Because  God  is  good,  He  knows 
them  who  trust  in  Him  :  He  knows  the  heart,  and 
He  will  be  acknowledged  with  the  heart.  —  Ver.  8. 
To  him  to  whom  the  eternal  light  becomes  dark- 
ness there  is  no  more  morning.  —  Ver.  9.  Human 
wisdom  is  powerful,  if  it  cooperates  with  God , 
impotent,  if  it  opposes  Him.  Eating  and  drink- 
ing are  the  lot  of  the  despisers  of  God :  and  the 
Lord  leaves  them  to  their  lot.  Food  and  drink 
for  the  body  do  not  give  the  life,  which  secures 
against  destruction.  —  Ver.  11.  Nineveh  and  Beth- 
lehem. —  Ver.  12.  Were  the  enemy  ever  so  dis- 
solute and  impious,  yet  it  is  not  without  the  per- 
mission of  God,  when  he  succeeds  in  humbling 
thee.  —  Ver.  14.  We  cheerfully  puzzle  our  brains 
how  to  remedy  the  evil  consequences  of  an  injury, 
which  will  probably  operate  for  a  long  time  here- 
after. We  should  rather  think  that  it  is  in  the 
power  of  God,  and  also  in  his  wiU,  if  it  should 
appear  necessary  to  his  wisdom,  to  extirpate  such 
an  injury  with  all  its  consequences  by  a  single 
blow.  Wickedness  is  chaff:  it  falls  not  to  tha 
ground  to  become  lasting  seed ;  but  because  it  ia 
too  light,  it  must  fly  away  as  far  as  it  can  go. 


'tL 


NAirtTM. 


Nineveh  was  a  great  city  before  God  (Jonah  iii.  3), 
and  yet  now  it  i8  too  light.  In  God's  scales  num- 
ber and  size  \auijenmass,  measuring  by  the  eyej 
weigh  nothing. 

Ldther:  On  ver.  1.  The  burden  which  hitherto 
has  lain  upon  and  oppressed  you,  will  come  to  lie 
upon  the  Ninevites.  Such  is  our  weakness  that 
we  always  wish  that  God  would  speedily  avenge 
Himself;  and  if  He  does  not,  then  we  think  that 
we  are  undone.  But  he  says,  when  ye  shall  be 
regarded  as  thoroughly  subdued,  and  when  there 
is  no  more  hope  on  your  side,  when  it  is  impossible 
lo  withstand  the  enemy  with  human  power,  then 
He  is  there,  withstands  them,  and  subdues  them 
most  gloriously  \auf's  aUerherrlichste].  —  Ver.  10. 
The  prophet  calls  them  thorns,  which  grow  into 
one  another,  i.  e.,  they  combine  their  might  and 
power  into  a  mass,  make  leagues  and  friendships, 
and  are  very  insolent  and  proud.  But  still  they 
are  thorns  which  must  perish,  let  them  combine 
together  as  they  will.  —  Ver.  12  He  who  is  in  you 
is  greater  than  he  who  is  in  the  world. 

Starke  :  On  ver.  1.  God  draws  forth  his 
eminent  men  even  from  obscure  and  unknown 
])laces.  —  Ver.  2.  We  can  indeed  discover  the  wis- 
dom and  power  of  God  from  the  book  of  Nature ; 
yet  the  Holy  Scriptures  teach  them  to  us  most 
correctly.  God  does  not  allow  the  heathen,  when 
they  mock  his  holy  name,  to  go  unpunished. — 
Ver.  3.  The  reason  of  the  long-suffering  of  God 
is  that  He  waits  for  repentance.  —  Ver.  4.  As  the 
fruitfulness  of  a  country  comes  from  God,  so  also 
its  unfruitfulness.  —  Ver.  6.  If  the  wrath  of  an 
earthly  king  is  a  messenger  of  death  (Proy.  xvi. 
14),  how  much  more  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty 
(Job  ix.  13).  —  Ver.  7.  Whoever  will  avail  him- 
self of  the  Divine  help  must  trust  in  God.  —  Ver. 
8.  God  causes  his  punishments  to  come  like  a 
flood,  that  is,  suddenly  and  before  they  are  ex- 
pected.—  Ver.  9.  Those  who  fall  again  into  their 
former  sins,  after  they  have  repeatedly  been 
brought  by  God  to  repentance,  are  generally  lost. 
—  Ver.  10.  Godless  people  are  like  thorns,  which 
thrive  and  grow  without  culture,  but  at  last  are 
burned  with  fire.  —  Ver.  11.  God  causes  the  mis- 
chief, which  men  prepare  for  others,  to  fall  upon 
their  own  heads.  The  enemies  of  God  place  their 
confidence  upon  fleshly  things :  but  thereby  de- 
stroy themselves. 

Pfaff  :  On  ver.  2.  Notwithstanding  the  Lord 
is  slow  to  wrath  and  kind,  yet,  if  one  turns  his 
grace  to  licentiousness,  his  wrath  comes  at  last 
upon  hardened  sinners  like  a  storm,  and  his 
vengeance  like  a  tempest.  —  Ver.  4  ff.  Behold  how 
terrible  are  God's  wrath  and  majesty.  And  thou 
sinner,  sinnest  recklessly  and  fearest  not  this 
wrath  of  thy  Creator,  and  wilt  not  know  that 
He  can  destroy  3")ul  and  body  in  hell.  —  Ver.  y  ff. 
It  is  in  vain  to  take  counsel  against  the  Lord. 
His  wisdom,  justice,  and  omnipotence  will  finally 
prevail  and  utterly  destroy  the  godless. 

lliEGER :  The  principal  design  of  the  last  six 
»rophets  is  to  comfort  the  people  of  God  under 
he  actual  invasion  and  pressure  of  their  chastise- 
ments, and  to  show  them  how  the  zeal  of  God 
toward  them  is  truly  great,  but  that  his  wrath 
toward  his  enemies  is  still  greater ;  and  how  God, 
after  having  accomplished  his  design  by  their 
chastisement,  will  recompense  their  enemies,  but 
remember  his  covenant  for  their  highest  good.  — 
Ver.  2  ff.  Every  thing  in  God  is  terrible  to  the 
wicked:  every  thing  to  them,  who  take  refuge  in 
Him,  is  consolatory.  Jealousy  is  caused  by 
violated  love,  and  is  exercised  either  toward  those 
whom  one  would  bring  back  by  it  to  the  duty  of 


love,  or  against  those  who  outrage  the  beloved 
[object].  The  patience  and  power  heretofort 
shown,  in  his  forbearance  for  a  long  time  with 
the  objects  of  his  wrath,  give  to  ais  judgments, 
when  at  last  God's  time  conies  tc  visit,  a  special 
sting  in  the  conscience  of  men  which,  however, 
in  case  of  a  final  humiHation,  ma^'  ])rove  quite 
salutary.  —  Ver.  9  ff.  If  we  compare  the  blas- 
phemous words,  which  Sennacherib  uttered  by 
his  servants,  against  the  God  of  Israel,  with  the 
definitive  sentence  pronounced  here  against  his 
seed,  we  can  see  how  impotent  even  the  mightiest 
upon  earth  is  against  the  Lord  in  heaven  ;  auU 
like  interwoven  thorns,  plans  projected  with  the 
greatest  skill,  well  supported  on  all  sides,  and 
strengthened  by  the  association  of  wicked  men, 
can  be  suddenly  overthrown  l)y  the  wrath  of  God 
before  they  become  ripe,  if  the  heart  of  man  is 
still  set  to  evil.  Blessed  are  all  that  trust  in 
Him! 

Caspari  :  On  ver.  1.  In  all  times  there  was  in 
Israel  a  great  number  of  persons,  whose  very 
names  (Nahum,  from  nachem,  to  console)  were  for 
themselves  and  their  countrymen  a  constant  living 
sermon  on  the  glorious  being  and  the  great  deeds 
of  Jehovah  their  God  ;  and  also  on  the  subject,  as 
to  how  the  heart  should  stand  with  Him,  and  on 
what  one  should  ask  and  expect  from  Him. 

Mich.  :  lloslium  deletio  ecclesice  consolaiio. 

ScHMiEDER :  Nahum,  in  the  Spirit,  saw  the  Lord 
as  He  appears  as  an  avenger  upon  Nineveh.  Filled 
with  this  vision  he  now  announces  the  Lord's  pur- 
pose to  destroy  this  wicked  city.  But  at  the  same 
time  he  teaches  how  the  Holy  God  unites  his  right- 
eous wrath  with  long-suffering  and  patience ;  how 
his  judgment  upon  the  oppressors  is  at  the  same 
time  protection  and  deliverance  to  his  people. 
Hence  this  prophecy  is  a  master-key  for  under- 
standing the  divine  judgments. 

ScHMiF.DER  :  Ver.  2.  The  enemies  of  the  Lord 
are  those  who  hate  the  living  God,  his  name,  his 
word,  and  his  covenant,  and  therefore  inflict  every 
evil  upon  his  people. 

Calvin  :  Ver.  3.  The  godless  should  not  con 
sole  themselves  with  the  fact  that  God  is  patient ; 
for  He  is  also  powerful ;  hence  those  who  abuse 
his  patience  will  not  escape  from  Him. 

BuRCK  :  God  shows  his  long-suffering  not  onW 
toward  his  children,  whose  manifold  weaknesses 
He  so  bears  with  as  to  restore  them  again  and 
again  ;  but  also  toward  his  enemies,  whom  He  does 
not  jjunish  at  once,  but  bears  with  them  very  pa- 
tiently for  a  long  time. 

lliERONYMUs:  Ver.  4.  It  will  not  be  hard  foi 
Him,  who  has  the  prerogative  to  put  even  the  ele 
ments  in  commotion,  to  destroy  Nineveh.  —  Ver. 
7.  He  does  not  surprise  all  mariners  with  a  storm. 

ScHJiiEDER  :  Ver.  8.  That  is  really  darkness, 
which  breaks  in  on  the  day  of  the  Lord  (Am.  v.  18). 
—  Ver.  9.  As  the  deluge  shall  not  occur  again, 
so  the  desolation  of  Israel  by  the  Assyrians  shall 
not  take  place  the  second  time  (Is.  liv.  9).  God 
comforts  and  tranquillizes  those  hearts  which  have 
become  fearftil  by  the  divine  judgments  which  they 
experienced. 

Mich.  :  Ver.  12.  As  tihe  multitude  of  hairs  can 
offer  no  resistance  to  the  shears,  so  also  God  will 
remove  the  multitude  of  his  enemies  by  an  easy  cut. 

HiERONYMus:  Ver.  14.  God  gives  a  command 
concerning  thee,  in  order  that  whatever  may  come 
upon  thee,  may  come  not  accidentally  and  from 
another  judge  ;  but  in  order  that  thou  mayes'. 
suffer  it  according  to  the  Divine  announcement. 

[Calvin  :    Ver.  7.    The  prophet  expresses  .  .  . 
here  ....  that  God  is  hard  and  severe  toward  re- 


CHAPTER  II  2'6 


fractorj-  men  and  that  He  is  merciful  and  kind  to 
the  tea(  haMe  and  obedient,  —  not  that  God  changes 
hie  natQ'e,  or  that,  like  Proteus,  He  puts  on  various 
forms ;  out  because  He  treats  men  according  to 
their  disposition. 


Henkt  :  Ver.  7.  This  glorious  description  of 
the  Sovereign  of  the  world,  like  the  pillar  of  cloud 
and  of  fire,  has  a  bright  side  toward  Israel,  and 
a  dark  side  toward  the  Egyptians.  —  C.  E.J 


CHAPTER  11. 


laE  DESCRIPTION. 


(hnquett.  Plundering,  and  Destruction  of  Nineveh.     Chap.  i.  15—ii.  14  (Heb.  Bibu, 

chap,  ii.) 

1  Behold !  upon  the  mountains 

The  feet  of  him,  who  brings  ^  glad  tidings  ; 

That  proclaims  peace : 

Celebrate  thy  feasts,  0  Judah  ! 

Perform  thy  vows  ; 

For  the  worthless  ^  one  shall  no  more  pass  through  thee  } 

He  is  utterly  cut  off. 

2  The  disperser  has  come  up  against  thee  [thy  face]  ; 
Keep  the  fortress,  look  out  upon  the  way  ; 

Make  strong  the  loins  : 

Strengthen  thee  with  power  mightUy. 

3  For  Jehovah  restoreth  the  excellency  of  Jacob 
As  the  excellency  of  Isi-ael ; 

For  plunderers  have  plundered  them 
And  their  branches  have  they  destroyed. 

4  The  shield  of  his  heroes  is  made  red : 
The  men  of  his  host  are  clothed  in  scarlet : 
With  the  llashmg  of  steel  the  chariots  [glitter3 
In  the  day  of  his  preparation  ; 

And  the  cypresses  are  brandished. 

6  The  chariots  rave  in  the  streets  : 

They  run  to  and  fro  in  the  broad  ways: 
Their  appearance  is  like  the  torches; 
Like  the  lightning  they  rush. 

6  He  remembers  his  nobles  ; 
They  stumble  in  their  march : 
They  hasten  to  her  wall, 
And  the  defence  ^  is  prepared. 

7  The  gates  of  the  rivers  are  opened ; 
And  the  palace  is  dissolved 

8  It  is  determhied  :  * 

She  is  made  bare  and  carried  away ; 
And  her  maids  moan  like  doves, 
Smiting  upon  their  breasts. 

9  And  Nineveh  is  like  a  pool  of  water  from  the  time  *  she  has  exiated : 

And  they  are  fleeing  ! 

Stand  !  stand  ! 

And  no  one  looks  back. 


'M 


NAHUM. 


10  Take  plunder  of  silver,  take  plunder  of  gold  ; 
There  is  no  end  to  the  store :  *^ 

[There  is]  abundance  of  all  desirable  vessels. 

11  Emptying,  and  emptiedness,  and  wasteness  : 
And  tlie  lieart  melis  ; 

And  [there  is]  tottering  of  knees  : 
[There  is]  intense  pain  in  all  loins ; 
And  all  faces  withdraw  their  bi'ightness.' 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

[1  Ter.  1.  —  "'tS'nB  is  collective,  every  one  that  brings  the  glad  tidings  of  the  overthrow  of  the  enemy. 

P  737*72,  abstract  for  concrete.     Compare  chap.  i.  11,   vl7'*^2  ^^^T*,  wicked  counselor. 

[9  Ver.  6.  —  Tr3Dn  TDn"),  (la  ist  das  sturmdach  errichtet  (Kleinert),  the  vinea  is  erected.  The  Tinea  was  •  poitabk 
thed,  or  mantelet  of  boards,  covered  with  wicker-work  or  hides,  and  served  to  protect  &om  the  ireapons  of  the  enemy 
the  soldiers  while  undermining  the  walls. 

[4  Ver.  8.  —  25JrT  has  puzzled  interpreters,  and  has  received  various  interpretations.  Some  suppose  that  it  is  in- 
tended to  designate' the  Queen  of  Nineveh,  here  called  Huzzab ;  but  this   opinion  cannot  be  maintained.     Glesenitu, 

instead  of  deriving  it  from  the  hopkal  of  2!53,  to  set,  to  put,  to  place,  has  recourse  to  the  root    33U,  which  he  borrowg 


from  tne  Arabic  v^,*»0,  to  flow,  trickle,  uf  water,  v_><0'  to  pour;  and,  then  connecting  the  word  to  the  end  of  the 
preceding  verse,  reads  thus  :  3"n   3i!32    /STin,  the  palace  is  dissolved  and  made  to  flow  down.    Keil  makes  it  the 

hophal  of  2^3,  which,  in  the  kipliil,  signifies  to  establish,  to  determine  (Deut.  xxxii.  8  ;  Ps.  Ixxiv.  17  ;  and  Chald.,  Dan. 
H.  45 ;  vi.  13),  and  translates  it,  it  Is  established,  i.  e.,  determined,  sc.  by  God.  Kleinert  renders  it :  Vndfest  ist^s.  The 
LXX.  read  Kal  17  un-ocrraa-iy  a7rf(caXu<|)9>]. 

[6  Ver.  9.  —  S^n  ^Q"'Q  an  example  of  a  noun  in  the  construct  before  the  fiiU  form  of  the  pronotm.  See  Green'i 
Heb.  Gram.,  sec.  220,  i.  a,  p.  219.  Since  the  days  of  her,  i.  e.  since  the  time  that  she  has  existed.  (See  Keil  and  Hen- 
ierson.)  Kleinert  renders  it :  Nineveh  aber,  u'ie  ein  Wa.<iserteich  siyid  ihre  Wasser.  The  LXX.  read :  Kal  Nii/ei/ij  Jiv  ko. 
Xvtifiridpa  v6aT<K,  Tei'xi)  iiiaTu  auTijs.  The  Vulgate  has :  "  -E«  Ninive  quasi  piscina  aquarum  aqua  ejus."  It  is  evidently 
the  plural  ct  □1''  day,  with  the  abbreviated  preposition  72  prefixed.  Calvin  :  Atqui  Nineveh  quasi  piteina  aguarum  d 
4i*t>ut  (hoc  est,  a  longo  tempore)  fiiit. 

r»  Ver.  10.  —Kleinert  renders  HD^Dn,  woknungen,  dwellings.     Comp.  Job  xxiii.  3  and  Ezek.  xllii.  11. 

*-  T  .  ' 

[7  Ver.  11. "1^'~!S5  ^"2p,  withdraw  their  ruddiness,  or  brightness,  of  countenance,  i.  «.,  oecomes  pale  with  terror. 

-C.E.] 

thing,  designates  the  author  [the  concrete —  C.  E.] 
as  in  2  Sam.  xxiii.  6.  H  v3,  he  taken  collectively, 
1.  e.  his  whole  people  (i.  12) ;  the  orthography 
(ii  for  ^n—)  as  in  Hab.  i.  9.  The  concluding 
sentence  shows  the  same  abbreviation  as  that  in 
i.  14,  a  form  of  energetic  expression  frequent  in 


EXEGETICAL. 


As  the  announcement  i.  7  ff.  clo.ses  the  delinea- 
tion of  the  catastrophe,  by  immediately  introdu- 
cing the  Divine  sentence  i.  12  ff.,  so  the  description 
itself  [ii.  1-11]  begins  with  a  consolatory  address, 
a  ray  of  light  for  the  people  of  God,  in  the  midst 

of  the  approaching  night  of  judgment  against :  prophecy.  In  a  genuine  prophetic  manner,  the 
Nineveh.  Behold  on  the  mountains  which  separ- 1  result,  tlie  joy  of  Judah,  is  mentioned  first ;  after 
ate  Nineveh  from  .Jerusalem,  and  to  which  the  de-  j  which,  in  the  address  directed  against  Nineveh, 
iected  look  of  the  des])airing  should  raise  itself  (Ps.  1  ver.  2  ff.,  follows  tlie  real  prophecy,  the  description 
cxxi.  1),  the  feet  —  and  not  simply  these  ;  but  they  |  of  the  catastrophe,  assigning  the  reason  [of  tha 
are  mentioned  as  that,  which  is  specially  valued  in  a  i  judgment.  —  C.  E.] 

messenger :  he  hastens,  because  ho  brings  good  tid-  j  Comp.  Is.  ii.  10  ff.  This  is  intimately  and  plainly 
incs  — of  the  messenger  of  joy.  "^ID^O  is  not  a !  connected  with  the  course  of  the  work  of  destmc- 
1  ^   •.    •   J-  -J     11...  r,„  ,    ji^„hV<>i,r  „u-^   tion.     The  dasher  in  pieces  comes  up  against 

definite  individual,  but  every  one  (   ilectively,  who   ,,        ,,-,.        ,  -^   ■^   1       ..1  ^^    " 

ueuuiLo  luuinuuai,  uiit  ^      j-  ^u.      tlise  (Ninevch  was  situated  on  the  upper  course  of 

hrintra  thf>  f.ifiino-.o.    Who  annoimces  neace.    l2iVlL     fVii^    TiVvis^     wVinm    Cinc\   p.mnlnvfid   for  disnersinc 


brings  the  tidings.  "Who  announces  peace 
is  the  accusative,  denoting  the  thing  proclaimed,  as 
in  Hab.  i.  2.  The  messenger  of  joy  (comp.  Is.  lii. 
7 )  begins  his  address  with  the  salutation  of  peace, 

T^b  DivL&j  and  continues:  Keep  thy  feasts,  0 
J'udah,  for  no  more  will  the  battle-cry  of  the  dis- 
turber sound  in  thee  (Is.  xvi.  9) ;  pay  thy  vows, 
which  thou  didst  promise  in  anguish,  when  thou 
desiredst  to  be  delivered  from  the  oppressor  (Gen. 
xxviii.  20  flf.).  For  the  worthless  shall  no  more 
pass  through  thee ;  for  he  is  wholly  destroyed. 

*?"*  /H  (i.  11),  according  to  the  otvmoii  of  the 


the  Tigris),  whom  God  emploj'ed  for  dispersing 
the  world-power  rallied  against  Him  (comp.  Jer. 
Ii.  20),  as  He  had  done  on  a  former  occasion  (Gren. 

xi.  8).     The  prophet  fixes  (H  /V  and  the  sing. 

Y""2!3)  his  eye  especially  upon  the  King  of  Baby 
Ion  (comp.  above  Introd.  4).  He  comes  up  against 
thee,  —  literally  against  thy  face,  —  before  whom 
the  earth  was  once  dumb  with  fear  (Is.  v.  25). 
Nineveh  arms  itself  against  him,  forsooth  in  vain : 
Guard  the  fortress  I  infinitive  absolute  for  the 
imperative  (Ges.,  sec.  131,4b);  the  imperative 
form  has,  as  it  often  does  in  the  prophetical  style 


CHAPTER   II. 


25 


the  meaning  of  sarcastic  description  (coniip.  iii.  15 
b).  Look  to  tlie  way,  on  which  the  enemies 
approach,  in  order  to  barricade  it  against  them. 
Strengthen  the  loins!  corap.  Is.  v.  27.  Exert 
thy  strength  greatly. 

fKeil  aTid  Delitzsch :  Ty^3^"72?  cannot  be  ad- 
dressed to  Judali,  as  in  i.  15  (Chald.,  Kashi,  etc.). 
It  cannot  indeed  be  objected  that  in  chap.  i.  15, 
the  destruction  of  Asshur  has  already  been  an- 
nounced, since  the  prophet  might  nevertheless 
have  returned  to  the  time  when  Asshur  had  made 
war  upon  Judah,  in  order  to  depict  its  ruin  with 
greater  precision.  But  such  an  assumption  does 
not  agree  with  the  second  clause  of  the  verse  as 
compared  with  ver.  2,  and  still  less  with  the  de- 
scription of  the  approaching  enemy  which  follows 
in  ver.  3,  since  this  is  unquestionably,  according 
to  ver.  5,  the  power  advancing  against  Nineveh, 
and  destroying  that  city.  We  must  therefore  as- 
sume that  we  have  here  a  sudden  change  in  the 
person  addressed,  as  in  chap.  i.  11  and  12, 13  and 
14.  Henderson  thinks  that  the  words  are  addressed 
to  Hezekiah,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem.  — 
C.  E.] 

"\'er.  3.  For  He  who  is  with  this  enemy,  is  none 
less  than  Jehovah.  He  restores  (comp.  Is.  iv.  2) 
the  glory  of  Jacob,  at  present  humbled,  yet  on  the 
way  to  grace,  so  that  it  becomes  again  as  the  glory 
of  Israel,  the  favored  [people],  once  in  a  glorious 
condition,   called  forever   to  grace   (comp.    Gen. 

xxxii.  28).  The  ?  does  not  indicate  comparison  ; 
but  designates  the  standard  [or  rule],  according  to 
which  the  restoration  is  to  result.  Also  elsewhere, 
though  not  regularly,  the  prophets  observe  this 
mode  of  speech  conformed  to  the  Torah,  of  desig- 
nating by  the  name  Jacob,  given  at  his  birth,  the 
people  standing  in  need  of  grace ;  and  by  the 
name  Israel,  bestowed  by  God,  the  people  that 
have  become  partakers  of  grace.  ( Compare  the 
expressions,  "worm  Jacob"  and  "  Holy  One  of 
Israel,"  in  Is.  xl.  flf.).  Cyril:  Tb  (jLty  'IokcuiS  inrh 
Tuv  iraTfpwv  ireBrt  t^  'laKwfi,  rh  Se  'Icpa^A  inrh 
Tor  0€oC,  afXtpOTfpaiy  Se  ovo/xdrcov  nfTfKex^"  "  *^ 
'Itt/c&)/3  \a6s-  The  distinction  of  the  iSouthern 
kingdom  and  of  the  Northern  kingdom  by  these 
two  names,  is  scarcely  to  be  thought  of;  and  it 
would  in  nowise  assist  in  obtaining  a  meaning  for 

the  passage.  That  3^tt^  has  the  causative  signifi- 
cation to  restore,  which  following  Hcngstenberg 
{Contributions,  ii.  104,  on  Deut.  xxx.  3),  Keil  and 
Strauss  deny  also  in  this  passage,  is   not  to    be 

doubted  in  the  constant  mode  of  expression  — ^i^ 

rfOXD  (and  no  where  n^lStt?  7^),  in  which  to  take 

n^SJL''  as  ace.  loc,  is  a  mere  artifice.  [Comp.  on 
Mic.  iv.  10.  Of  the  parallels  cited  by  Keil,  Ex. 
IT.  20  and  Gen.  1.  14  have  H  local;  and  Num. 
X.  36  is  poetic]  In  this  passage  the  signification, 
"  to   turn  himself  back  to,"  is  not  possible,  not 

merely  on  account  of  the  i^M,  but  also  on  account 

of  the  following  ^S3D  ;  moreover,  Jacob  at  pres- 
ent has  no  glory,  to  which  God  could  return,  and 
the  expression,  "  God  will  turn  again  to  the  glory 
of  Jacob,"  would  be  too  insipid  in  the  mouth  of 
Nahum   for  that  which  he  evidently  intended  to 

[Keil  and  Delitzsch:  2ti7  (perf  proph.)  has  not 
Ae  force  of  the  hiphil,  reducer e,  restituere,  either 
here  or  in  Ps.  Ixxxv.  5  and  Is.  Iii.  8,  ami  other 


passages,  where  the  modern  lexicons  give  it,  but 
means  to  turn  round,  or  return  to  a  person,  and  is 
construed  with  the  accusative,  as  in  Num.  x.  36 ; 
Ex.  iv.  20,  and  Gen.  1.  14,  although  in  actual  fact 
the  return  of  Jehovah  to  the  eminence  of  Jacob 

involves  its  restoration.  ^P^^  P^?»  that  o< 
which  Jacob  is  proud,  i.  e.  the  eminence  and  great- 
ness or  glory  accruing  to  Israel  by  virtue  of  its 
election  to  be  the  nation  of  God,  which  the  enemy 
into  whose  power  it  had  been  given  up  on  accoun 
of  its  rebellion  against  God  had  taken  away  (see 
at  Amos  vi.  8).  Jacob  does  not  stand  for  Judah, 
nor  Israel  for  the  ten  tribes,  for  Nahum  never 
refers  to  the  ten  tribes,  in  distinction  from  Judah  ; 
and  Ob.  18,  where  Jacob  is  distinguished  from  the 
house  of  Joseph,  is  of  a  totally  different  character 
Both  names  stand  here  for  the  whole  of  Israel.  — 
C.  E.] 

The  expression  ^5^3  is  used  by  the  oldest  proph- 
ets in  a  bad  sense  {pride,  haughtiness  of  Israel,  Am. 
vi.  8 ;  Hos.  v.  5  ;  vii.  10) ;  but  in  Is.  iv.  2  in  a  good 
one.  The  glory  i.s  restored,  for  plunderers  (Is. 
xxiv.  1),  chastisers  who  abused  their  power,  have 
plundered  them  —  the  I^r^elites  ;  and  their  vines 
(comp.  Ps.  Ixxx.  9  ff.)  they  have  outrageously  de- 
stroyed. Hence  it  is  that  the  approaching  distress, 
(ver.  4,)  comes  in  His  power :  the  shield  of  His  [It 
is  the  opinion  of  Keil  and  Kleinert  that  the  suffix 
in  ^n^SS   reters  to  Jehovah  (ver.  3),  and  not  to 

V"*?^'  '^■ei'-  2.  Henderson  refers  it  to  the  latter,  viz., 
Cyaxares.  —  C.  E.]  heroes,  the  executors  of  the 
punitive  sentence,  commissioned  by  Him  (comp.  Is. 
xiii.  3 ;  Ob.  2),  is  red,  the  valiant  men  are  clothed 
in  brilliant  scarlet ;  the  chariots  blaze  with  their 
iron  equipments  in  the  day  of  his  preparation. 
In  the  closing  words  the  subject  is  the  disposition 
of  the  troo])s  in  battle  array  before  the  fight  ; 
hence  the  shields  could  not  be  made  red  with  blooil 
(Abarb.,  Grot.).  But  their  redness,  together  with 
that  of  their  uniform  and  of  the  metal  ornaments 
of  their  chariots,  is  the  color,  first,  of  the  joyous 
splendor  of  the  host  of  divine  warriors  (comp.  2 
Kings  vi.  17) ;  then  it  is  the  color  of  [those  who 
execute  —  C.  E.]  the  judgment  (Zech.  i.  8;  Rev. 
vi.  4).  That  this  red  light  from  the  shields  could 
proceed  from  their  copper  covering  (Hitz.  accord- 
ing to  Jos.,  Ant.,  xiii.  12,  5),  is  possible,  without 
being  necessary  to  the  interpretation.  Gosse  (^ss., 
p.  279)  says  (comp.  1  Kings  x.  16  f )  :  From  the 
eagerness  with  which  these  shields  (on  a  wall 
sculpture  in  Khorsnlirtd)  were  snatched  away,  we 
may  suppose  that  they  were  made  of  gold ;  and  this 
suits  just  as  well  and  perhaps  still  better  the  asso- 
ciation of  ideas  of  the  prophet,  who  had  no  intention 
of  giving  us  a  dissertation  upon  arms,  but  a  descrip- 
tion  of  the  flashing  and  glittering  army.      The 

bright  red  {W^V^n^,  part,  denom.  von  -  ''i^', 
purple  worm),  on  the  men  of  power,  the  select 
heroes  of  the  army,  is  most  correctly  understood 
with  Strauss  and  others,  of  their  dress.  Red  was 
not  the  favorite  color  of  the  Medes  only  (Xeno- 
phon  states  that  the  Persians  obtained  from  them 
■Kop<pvpovs  x^f^vas  ;  comp.  Pollux  i.  13  ;  'S,apayt]iy 
Mr)Sctiv  rt  <p6priij.a,  ir6p<pvpo^  ixea6\evKOs  x'Ttcy),  l)Ut 
on  account  of  ver  2,  we  must  not,  with  6trauo^, 
think  only  of  them  ;  it  was  also  the  favorite  color  ol 
the  Bnbylonians  (Ezek.  xxiii.  14;  corap.  Layard's 
Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  p.  347)  :  the  favorite  color 
of  the  Assyrians  was  blue  (Ezek.  xxiii.  6 ;  xxvii. 

23  f ).       m~T7D  is  a  hapax  legomenon  in  Hebrew 


2(i 


NAHUM. 


ui  Arabic  and  Syriac  the  corresponding  words 
signify  steal.  Therefore  HT^-  are  certainly  not 
scythes  on  scythe-chariots  (Hitz.),  for  these  do 
not  occur  on  the  Assyrian  monuments,  since  they 
were  first  introduced  by  Cyrus  ;  but  the  glittering 
steel  equipment  of  the  chariots  generally :  "  Nam 
Assi/rio''um  currus,  quales  in  monumentis  conspici- 
mus  horrent  fulgentibus  rebtis,  seu  e  ferro  sen  e  chal- 
ybe  factis,  securibus,  arcubus,  sagittis  clypeisque  et 
quibusvis  instrumentis ;  equi  rubris  cirris  ornati,  te- 
mones  denigue  fulgentibus  solibus  lanisque  apparent 
distincti."  Strauss.  Raschi  coujectures  the  same 
thing.     Comp.  also  Jos.   xvii.  1 6 ;  Judges  i.  1 9. 

God  is  to  be  considered  the  subject  of  13"'3n » 

so  above  the  suffix  in  in^'m23  refers  to  Him. 
And  the  cypresses,  the  spears  made  of  cypresses, 
are  brandished,  literally,  made  to  reel;  here  also 
the  brandishing  of  the  lances  for  throwing  does 
not  seem  to  be  meant ;  but  the  glittering  of  the 
forest  of  approaching  lances  over  the  scarlet  sheen 
of  the  army. 

In  contrast  with  this  there  is  indeed,  ver.  5  f.,  a 
very  different  scene  in  Nineveh.  Without,  God 
arranges  his  hosts  :  within  is  the  disorder  of  wild 
terror  :  without,  a  steady  approach  against  the  city, 
Avithin,  a  frantic  rushing  hither  and  thither :  with- 
out, a  joyful  splendor :  within,  a  deadly  paleness, 
like  torch-light.  Through  the  streets  the  chari- 
ots rave  [are  driven  furiously.  —  C.  E.],  they  run 
to  and  tro  in  the  market-places,  of  which  in  Nin- 
eveh there  were  many,  for  an  entire  inclosed  part  of 
the  great  circuit  [ein  ganzer  geschlossener  stadtkorper 
desgrossen  Complexes]  bore  this  name  [the  name  ren- 
dered market-places  above  —  C.  E.l.  Rehoboth 
[i.  e.,  streets,  or  wide  places  —  C  E.J  (Gen.  x.  11 ). 
Like  torches,  so  pallid,  not  red  like  purple,  is  their 
ai^earance,  that  of  the  Assyrians  :  like  lightning, 
so  pale  and  unsteady,  they  shoot  hither  and  thither. 

'  The  intensive  form  V^T^,  indicates  the  mani- 
foldness  of  the  direction,  the  zigzag  of  the  light- 
ning." Hitzig.  The  torches  and  lightning  give  a 
gloomy  and  not  a  joyful  light ;  hence  (Is.  xiii.  8) 
anxious  faces,  "  which  have  withdrawn  their  rud- 
diness (comp.  Joel  ii.  6  ;  Nah.  ii.  11,  with  Is.  xxix. 
22 ;  Joel  iv.  15),  are  compared  to  them. 

Hitz.,  Holemann,  Strauss,  Keil  refer,  however, 
ver.  5,  to  the  approaching  army  of  conquerors  ; 
which  would  make  it  a  continuation  of  ver.  4. 
But  it  is  evident  at  a  glance,  that  it  stands  in  con- 
trast with  ver.  4.  For  in  a  city  of  the  immense 
circumference  and  extensive  circumvallation  of 
Nineveh  (comp.  Jonah  iii.),  when  streets  and  places 
are  spoken  of,  the  pastures  and  commons  before 
the  city  cannot  well  be  meant,  but  only  those 
within.  Moreover,  in  referring  it  to  the  Assyr- 
ians, which  Theodoret  has  already  done  (among  the 
moderns  Ewald,  Umbreit),  the  transition  to  what 
follows,  which  the  interpreters  mentioned  before 
cannot  adjust,  becomes  plain  of  itself. 

Ver.  6.  He,  the  King  of  Assyria,  under  whose 
eyes  this  frantic  tumult  tills  the  city,  thinks  of  his 
brave  men.  □'^"T'^W  are  not  the  rich  and  noble 
(Marck,  Strauss),  but  the  heroes,  as  in  Judges  v. 
13  (parallel  D''"123),  for  these  are  the  persons 
who  alone  come  into  account  in  the  exigencies  of 
war.  But  they  also  lose  their  footing,  in  the  panic 
terror  caused  by  God  (comp.  v.  11  ;  Ob.  9  ;  Is. 
xix.  14) ;  they  stumble  in  their  paths,  in  their 
different  routes  of  march,  which  tiiey,  in  their 
hurry,  took  through  the  wide  'ity,  in  order  to 
maintain  the  hard-presset'  point.     They  hasten  to 


her,  Nineveh's,  walls,  and  arrive  just  in  time  to  set 
the  last  work  of  the  besiegers  :  there  the  testudc 
[see  note  on  ver.  6  —  C.  E.]  has  already  been 
erected.  It  is  erected,  for  the  Babylonians  did  not 
construct  it  as  the  Romans  did  (Liv.  xxxiv.  9)  by 
standing  close  to  each  other  and  holding  their 
shields  over  their  heads  ;  but  (besides  the  movable 
battering-rams,  which  went  on  wheels)  towers, 
which  were  occupied  by  warriors,  were  built  on  a 
place  and  in  a  position  before  the  walls  :  the  whole 
formed  a  temporary  building,  whose  top  is  repre- 
sented in  the  sculptures  as  on  a  level  with  the 
walls,  and  even  sometimes  with  the  turrets,  of  the 
besieged  city.  Layard,  p.  377.  Comp.  Deut.  xx. 
19  f 

Ver.  7-9  b  introduces  a  new  turn  :  the  elements 
interfere.  The  gates  of  the  rivers  are  opened. 
These  words  have  vexed  interpreters.  One  under- 
stands by  the  gates  of  the  rivers  those  which  were 
situated  down  by  the  water,  which  the  enemy 
broke  open  by  storm :  Luther,  Tuch  ( A'ho  thinks 
that  the  east  gate  is  meant,  where  the  Khosr  en- 
ters and  flows  rapidly  thro-igh  the  city  into  the 
Tigris),  Ewald,  Strauss,  Keil.  But  Rosenm.  justly 
replies  :  how  foolish  would  it  be  in  the  enemy  to 
make  an  attack  just  at  the  most  difficult  point, 
where  nature  assists  the  fortifications.  The  differ- 
ent explanations  indicated  by  Rosenm.,  De  Wette 
(rivers  :  rushing  masses  of  the  enemy)  ;  Hieron. 
(rivers:  swarming  population,  comp.  LXX..  irvKou 
riiu  TToAecov),  Hitzig  (rivers :  the  streets  of  Nin- 
eveh) ;  Umbreit  (rivers,  an  image  of  calamity 
risen  to  its  highest  pitch)  are  make-shifts,  which 
introduce  obscure  bombast  into  the  pregnant  ex- 
pression.   And  if  it  is  now  certain  that  nnD3  is 

not  used  in  the  Hebrew  before  the  captivity  for  an 
opening  effected  by  breaching  the  walls,  but  always 
for  a  voluntary  opening,  loosening  one's  self,  open- 
ing itself;  if  it  is  never  used  at  all  for  the  breaking 
open  of  gates  by  enemies,  but  rather  for  the  opeH' 
ing  of  that  which  has  been  kept  locked  up,  of  th» 
fountain  (Zech.  xiii.  1),  of  the  sluices  of  heaves 
(Gen.  vii.  11  ;  Is.  xxiv.  18;  comp.  Ezek.  i.  1) ;  if 
finally,  notwithstanding  the  consideration  of  Hitzig 
drawn  from  the  locality,  there  is  no  reason  tc 
doubt  the  statements  of  the  ancients,  that  in  th* 
third  year  the  river  became  an  enemy  to  the  city, 
that  by  violent  rains  an  unprecedented  inundatioo 
took  place  and  broke  down  the  walls  of  Nineveh  to 
a  great  extent  (comp.  In  trod.  4 ;  Diod.  Sic,  ii.  27  ; 
and  the  tradition  of  the  surrounding  inhabitants 
mentioned  by  Xenophon,  Anab.,  iii.  iv.  8-12), 
why  should  the  prophet  make  no  announcement 
of  it,  since  from  the  time  of  Deborah  it  was  rather 
the  manner  of  the  Prophet  to  mention  promi- 
nently such  interference  on  the  part  of  God'' 
Judges  V.  20,  21.  He  has  at  least  ever,  already 
plainly  enough  referred  to  something  si^ai'dr,  i.  S, 
10.  (Comp.  Duncker,  1.  c.  i.  p.  806  f  j.  The  ob- 
jection of  Strauss  and  Keil,  that  "gates  of  th» 
rivers  "  cannot  stand  for  gates  opened  hy  lae  riverr 
has  no  pertinency,  since  the  thing  ip'kra  of  is  th* 
gates  from  which  the  formerly  r'jsti-air.ed,  checker 
floods  burst  forth,  the  sluices  of  tne  inundation* 
and  not  this  or  that  city-gate.  The  excellent 
natural  fortification  of  the  city  effected  by  tlv. 
rivers  flowing  around,  which  had,  in  no  small  de- 
gree, contributed  to  form  just  here  the  magnificent 
centre  of  the  Mesopotamian  despotism  (Spiegel,  k 
363),  turns  now  to  the  destruction  of  Nineveh 
since  the  rivers  break  its  gates  and  overflow.  Oui 
opinion  is  the  more  recommended,  because  firsi 
from  it,  i.  8,  receives  a  much  clearer  hght ,  secondly 


CHAPTER   II 


27 


the  men  ion  of  the  water  very  naturally  follows 
tliat  of  the  battering-rams,  ver.  6  ;  thirdly,  ver.  10  a 
atlbrds  only,  from  this  view,  a  plain  meaning,  and 
finally  also  the  immediately  following  context  fits 

in  with  it  admirably  :  the  King's  palace,  v3TT, 
1  Kings  xxi.  I ,  is  dissolved.     The  derivatives  of 

2"lSi  are  used  commonly  for  the  melting  of  what 
16  solid  by  destructive  floods  (comp.  i.  5  and  Com. 
on  Mic.  i.  4  f ).  'J'hus  the  floods  flowing  around 
undermine  the  king's  palace,  so  that  it  falls  to- 
gether of  itsel-  The  kings  of  Nineveh  understood 
how  to  build  ,'comp.  Introd.  4,  p.  101).  They 
first  erected  a  colossal,  pyramidal,  quadrate  sub- 
structure, surrounded  by  walls  with  towers,  gates, 
and  outside  stairs.  On  a  plateau  rose  a  second 
peribolus.  Thus  the  structure  towered  through 
several  stories  and  ramparts  to  the  residence  proper 
of  the  dynasty,  to  the  two  significant  gates  guarded 
by  the  mystic  colossal  animals.  From  the  court 
of  justice  it  mounted  upwards,  in  the  form  of  a 
terrace,  to  the  private  pavilions  of  the  princes, 
which  stood  in  isolated  masses  in  shady  garden- 
plots.  And  over  all  this  arose  as  the  crowning 
work,  the  high  pyramid,  with  the  terraces  planted 
with  trees,  and  outside  stairs  winding  up  to  it. 
Above  was  found  the  sepulchre  of  the  ancestral 
prince,  who  was  forced  upon  the  subjugated  people 
as  a  god.  Heltferich,  Aphorismen  Uber  den  Kiinst- 
stil,  in  the  Margenblatt,^  for  1852,  p.  900  flF.  [For 
a  description  of  an  Assyrian  palace,  see  Layard's 
Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vol.  ii.  p.  207.  —  C.  E.] 

The  palace,  indeed,  of  the  last  king  (whom  Na- 
hum  has  uotuamcd),  the  so-called  southeast  palace, 
was  less  magnificent  (Spiegel,  x, 372  ;  1  c.).     With 

propriety  could  the  difficult  word  Il^n  which  fol- 
lows, in  ver.  8,  be  connected  with  the  words,  the 
king's  palace  dissolves,  if,  with  Gesenius,  we  were 
to  translate  it,  ''und  zerjiiesst,"  and  it  flows  down. 

But  the  word  33^  [of  which  S^H  is  the  Hophal 
form — C.  E.]  would  occur  only  in  this  single 
passage :  it,  therefore,  seems  precarious  to  give  up 
the  old  division  of  verses  on  account  of  an  uncertain 

translation.  The  correction  of  Hitzig,  2^(11, 
"  and  the  lizard  is  heaved  up,"  is  too  far-fetched  ;  and 
the  shift  of  Ewald   interpreting  Hussab  [Hebrew 

3-^n,  the  word  in  question  —  C.  E.],  as  designat- 
ing the  Assyrian  queen  (which  is  found  moreover  in 
Nic.  v.  Lyra,  Luther,  Burck,  and  others),  is  sup- 
ported by  neither  the  original  text,  uor  by  fact. 

The  king  had  caused  the  queen  to  be  removed 
from  the  distressed  city  (Introd.  4).  Just  as  little 
probable  is  it,  that  Hussab  (the  stronghold:  the 
audacious)  was  intendjd  to  bo  a  symbolical  name 
for  Nineveh  itself  (Schegg,  Brei'teneicher).  We 
must,  therefore,  retain,  with  Strauss,  the  old  solu- 
tion of  De  Dieu  and  Seb.  Schmid,  which  considers 

rr  I2*?r7  —  C.  E.]  as  an  independent  neuter  sen- 
tence  (:cmp.  D3"lp,  Ps.  xlix.  12),  and  Il!»n,  as 

the  Hophal  of  3-3)  statuere  (Gen.  xxviii.  11  ;  Ps. 
Ixxiv.  17) ;  and  it  is  established,  fixed ;  it  is  plain, 
and  there  the  matter  rests,  namely,  in  the  decree, 
which  now  to  10  b  completes  the  description  of  the 

nundation.     [Henderson  connects  3^n  with  the 

preceding  verse,  and  translates  ^5'^'^^^':'*'''*^•'  ''-^"d 
me  place"  (palace?)  "is  dissolved,  though  firmly 
established."    This  rendering  takes  2!J3  instead 

I   [A  periodical  published  in  Stuttg;irt.] 


of  32!J  as  the  root,  but,  with  Gesenius,  removei 
the  word  to  the  end  of  the  preceding  verse.  Ge 
seniusdoes  not  speak  very  positively  :  he  says,  un 
der  the  Hophal  of  3^3 :  "  Sed  vix  dabito,  quir 
3"^n),  ad  prcecedens  comma  referendum  et  a  raU 

3?^,  repettndum  sit,  ubi  vide."  Thesaurus,  p.  903, 
Keil  follows  De  Dieu.  The  English  Version  reads. 
"  Huzzab,"  making  it  a  proper  n.ime  — C.  E.], 
She  is  made  bare,  the  not  yet  vanqnished  maid 
abandoned  to  the  shame  of  capture  (comp.  iii.  5; 

Is.  xlvii.. 3),  removed  away,  n7yn,  like  the  Latin 
tollere.  The  verb  does  not  have  the  meaning  of 
departure,  of  leading  into  captivity:  in  all  the  six 
passages  specified  by  Strauss  in  favor  of  that  mean- 
ing, the  Niphal  is  used,  and  that  with  the  significa- 
tion of  getting  one's  self  away.  And  her  maids, 
the  associated  dependent  states  and  cities  (Theod. 
Cyril.,  Hieron. ;  comp.  Is.  xxiii.  6  f.)  :  not  her  in- 
habitants (  Hitz.,  Strauss,  Keil),  for  these  in  the  inun- 
dating deluge  have  something  else  to  do,  they  flee, 
or  are  already  drowned  :  because  the  prophet  sees 
the  waves  rolling  over  her,  she  is  herself  considered 
as  removed  —  moan  like  the  cry  of  doves  (comp. 
Is.    xxxviii.    14;   lix.    11;   Ez.  vii.    16).      "  Tha 

meaning  of  3n3  is  rendered  certain  by  the  paral- 
lelism, by  the  versions,  and  by  the  dialects.' 
Hitzig,  Hieronymus  :  "  Tantus  terror  erit,  ut  ne  in  sin- 
gultus qiiidem  et  uhdatum  erumpat  dolor,  sed  intra  se 
tacite  gemant  et  obscuro  murmure  devorent  lacrimas, 
in  morem  mussitantium  columbarum,  ....  smiting 
on  their  breasts,  a  mournful  gesture  (Luke  xviii. 

23;  xxiii.  27).     It  is  noted  in  the  Kri  that  the  '^ 

is  wanting  in  ^n337  (comp.  a  similar  case  in 
Ewald,  sec.  258  a). 

Ver.  9.  But  Nineveh,  like  a  pool  of  water  are 
her  waters.  The  rivers,  on  which  it  is  situated, 
formerly  flowing  so  rapidly  into  their  beds,  form 
by  their  inundation  a  large  expanse  of  water ;  com- 
pare ver.  7.    In  accordance  with  the  LXX.,  we  read 

the  consonants  WTf  "'J2''a  ;  Vulgate  :  S'^n  "'P'^D. 

The  Masoretic  reading  '^^"'^j  "  since  her  days," 
does  not  give  any  correct  sense,  though  we  com- 
pare, with  Hitzig,  Is.  xviii.  2.  [Henderson  and 
Keil  follow  the  Masoretic  reading.     The  latter  say« 

S^in  ]»  in  Is.  xviii.  2  is  different.  —  C.  E.] 

Ver.  9  b-1 1 .  After  that  the  fury  of  the  devas 
tating  element  has  made  an  end,  all  resistance  is 
given  up,  and  the  abandoned  city  stands  open  to 
plunder.  [The  inundation  could,  on  account  of 
the  elevated  situation  of  the  city  (30-150^  above 
the  bed  of  the  Tigris),  and  the  rapid  descent  of  that 
river,  be  only  very  transient.     And  they,  not  the 

maids  (Strauss),  that  would  require  mD3  rT^H, 
but  the  Assyrian  warriors,  whom  the  king,  ver.  6, 
had  summoned,  flee  (comp.  Ex.  xiv.  27),  because 
they  could  not  contend  with  the  united  power  of 
God  and  men.  Stand,  stand !  he  calls  after  them, 
which  the  prophet  sarcastically  reechoes  (comp. 
ver.  2 )  —  but  no  one  turns  back.  So  then  noth 
ing  stands  any  longer  in  the  way  of  pillage  :  plun- 
der silver,  plunder  gold ! 

Ver.  lO.  Crmpare,  on  the  immense  quantity  of 
the  booty,  the  Introd.  Jos.,  Ant.,  x.  11,  1.  And 
endless  are  the  dwellings  to  be  plundered  (Job 
xxiii.  3).  [The  mearing  of  furniture  (Strauss), 
of  garments  (Hitzig,  ^omp.  LXX.  K6(rfxos)  gi  el 


28 


KAliUM. 


to  n^^-H  is  uot  very  probable  :  at  the  most,  ac- 
cording to  the  etvmolo,2:y,  the  magnificent  pedes- 
tals of  the  images  of  the  srods  could  be  thought 
of;  but  the  tense  of  our  translation  guaranteed  by 
the  passage  in  Job  is  sutHcient.]  An  immense 
quantity  (Ps.  xlix.  13)  of  all  kinds  of  ornamen- 
tal vessels.  And  thus  comes  the  illustrious  city, 
ver.  12,  to  an  end  in  misery:  desolation,  devas- 
tation, and  destruction.  For  this  pictorial  accu- 
mulation of  similar  sounds  compare  Is.  xxiv.  1  ; 
Gen.  i.  2  ;  Zcph.  i.  15 :  Is.  xxix.  1  ff.  "  The  place 
is  laid  waste  by  fire,"  etc.  And  the  heart  (sing, 
coll.)  melts  (for  the  form,  comp.  Olsh.,  p.  592)  in 
complete  humiliation  and  sorrow  (Is.  xiii.  7)  ; 
and  tottering  knees  and  pain  in  all  loins,  a 
tragical  contrast  with  ver.  2.  And  all  counte- 
nances lose  their  color  [literally,  the  counte- 
nances of  all  of  them  withdraw  ruddiness.  —  C.  E.] 
(comp.  Com.  on  ver.  5  ;  Joel  ii.  6.) 

DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL.l 

The  violent  shaking,  relatively  the  destmction 
of  the  heathen,  is  a  requisite  for  the  restoration  of 
peace  and  prosperity  in  Israel,  and  consequently  a 
condition  of  accomplishing  their  salvation.  Com- 
pare Zech.  i. ;  Hagg.  ii.  The  destruction  of  the 
heathen  is  not  an  independent  cud,  but  a  means  to 
the  end  [the  salvation  of  God's  people —  C.  E.]; 
for  God  is  a  God  of  life  and  of  glory.  But  Israel, 
upon  whom  He  bestows  in  love  such  great  bless- 
ings, has  now  no  excuse,  if  he  withholds  from  Him 
the  honor  due.  The  destruction  of  Nineveh  is  an- 
other item  in  the  account-book  which  is  held  before 
those  who  withhold  from  God  his  feasts  and  their 
vows.     Comp.  Mic.  vi. 

The  overthrow  of  the  enemy  of  God  is  not  the 
work  of  men,  but  His  work.  A  disperser  comes 
np;  men  would  be  satisfied  with  the  capture 
(comp.  Obadiah).  His  heroes  are  God's  heroes  ; 
the  terror  which  is  in  the  city  is  a  bewilderment 
of  mind  caused  by  God :  stumbling  in  the  level 
streets,  trembling  of  the  knees  of  heroes  :  irreme- 
diable and  ceaseless  flight  of  those  accustomed  to 
victory ;  and  as  a  last  sign  that  God  approaches, 
He  causes  the  powers  of  nature,  which  are  subject 
to  Him  alone,  to  take  part  in  the  scene  :  He  con- 

?uers  :  to  the  human  conquerors  he  leaves  the 
task  of]  plundering ;  for  as  Nineveh  had  amassed 
gain,  so  must  it  be  scattered.  The  fundamental 
thought  of  the  patriarchal  promise,  the  election  of 
Israel,  and  the  fundamental  thought  of  the  Law, 
the  talio,  meet  very  closely  with  each  other  on  this 
point  of  the  prophetic  announcement. 

HOMILETIOAL. 

The  passage,  if  one  does  not  do  violence  to  it, 
is  to  be  treated  only  as  a  picture  of  the  judgment, 
thus  in  a  manner  purely  expository,  or  rather  peri- 
phrastic, with  interspersed  observations.  The  hom- 
iletical  part  of  the  treatment  can  be  limited  only 
to  the  placing,  on  the  one  hand,  of  the  whole  un- 
der the  three  points  of  view  given  in  the  begin- 
ning (vers.  2-4),  and  to  the  rendering  prominent, 
on  the  other,  of  the  typical  reference  to  the  end. 
The  judgment  takes  place,  (1)  because  it  is  neces- 
■arv  to  the  peace  of  the  kingdom  of  God  (ver.  1, 
3  a)  ;  (2)  because  an  evil  accumulation  of  [the 
means  of]   human  pride,  [Hohen]   (riches,  power, 

I  lUieksgedanleen.     See  note  Com    on  Jonah,  p.  20.  — 


worthlcssncss),  must  be  destroyed  (ver.  2);  (S 
because  it  is  richly  deserved.  So  will  it  also  be  aj 
the  last  judgment. 

On  ver.  1.  Even  in  the  most  gloomy  night 
there  is  a  ray  of  light  for  the  pious.  (On  ver.  2 
compare  Kaulbach's  mural  painting  of  the  Chris- 
tians leaving  Jerusalem.)  Darkness  is  not  dark 
to  him  who  is  near  to  God.  Will  it  not  be  peace, 
when  the  great  restoration  comes,  which  no  rude 
hand  of  the  world,  smothering  and  chilling,  can 
snatch  away!  (Ps.  cxxvi.).  —  Ver.  2  f.  The  say- 
ing, "  hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  further," 
is  applicable  also  to  him  accustomed  to  power  and 
victory.  For  awhile  God  goes  with  him  and 
strengthens  his  steps  ;  then  He  turns  to  the  side 
of  the  down-trodden.  —  Ver.  4  f.  So  will  the  con- 
flict of  the  kingdom  of  God  against  the  powers  of 
darkness  always  be :  a  joyful  contest  for  order, 
which  proceeds  from  God.  But  if  those  who  would 
be  his  heroes,  should  tear  one  another,  what  will 
be  the  resitlf?  If  they  would  keep  still  before 
Him,  planless  confusion  would  soon  break  forth  in 
the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  which  would  show  that 
they  are  fighting  against  God.  Then  must  the 
strong  stumble  in  their  paths.  Julian  and  Liba- 
nius  were  strong.  And  the  testudo  is  projected 
over  their  walls :  Origen  has  outflanked  the  hea- 
then philosophers.  Neither  equipment,  nor  the 
appearance  of  assembled  power  (ver.  2),  nor  ca- 
pacity of  hasty  movement  and  vehement  and  varied 
activity  (ver.  5),  achieves  victory  in  the  battles  of 
the  kingdom  of  God :  where  God  stands,  there 
victory  comes.  —  Ver.  7  ff.  Where  human  power 
is  not  sufficient  to  accomplish  his  saving  work  of 
destruction  against  his  scourges,  there  He  knowa 
how  to  interfere  himself  (1812).  That  on  which 
a  powerful  man  most  firmly  relies,  may  become  the 
severest  instrument  of  punishment  to  him.  —  Ver. 
10  f.  The  greater  the  accumulated  treasures,  the 
more  fearful  the  devastation.  Whose  will  that  be, 
which  thou  hast  prepared,  when  thy  knees  tremblt 
in  the  last  agony  "? 

Starke  :  Ver.  1.  Those  who  receive  the  Gospel 
with  true  faith  possess  in  their  hearts  and  con- 
sciences, as  it  were,  a  continual  feast  of  joy.  The 
Lord  comforts  and  quickens :  He  leads  into  hell 
and  out  again.  The  Jewish  people  have  still  hope 
of  being  delivered  from  their  miserable  condition. 

—  Ver.  4  f.  To  those  who,  in  times  of  peace,  givb 
themselves  up  to  pleasure,  and  who,  like  irrational 
persons,  rage  and  cry  in  the  streets,  the  same  evil 
will  be  requited.  —  Ver.  6.  If  kings  rely  more  upon 
their  heroes  and  armies  than  upon  God,  they  must 
become  discouraged  and  flee  before  their  enemies 

—  Ver.  8.  God  can  find  us,  wherever  we  are,  when 
He  intends  to  punish  us.  —  Ver.  9.  God  is  no*, 
obliged  to  bestow  his  fiivors  upon  us  continually  : 
He  can  withdraw  them  on  account  of  our  ingrat- 
itude. —  Ver.  10.  War  is  terrible  ;  Lord,  grant  us 
peace !  —  Ver.  11.  Natural  men,  in  adversity,  allow 
all  their  courage  to  sink,  and  despair,  when  their 
goods,  on  which  their  hearts  are  set,  are  taken 
from  them.  It  is  certainly  a  great  loss,  when  one 
loses  money  and  goods,  but  net  so  great  as  when 
the  heart  falls  into  despair. 

Ursinus  :  On  ver.  1.  Partly  a  congratulation, 
that  the  congregation  [die  Gemeinde]  shall  no  more 
be  destroyed  ;  partly  an  exhortation  to  give  God 
the  thanks  that  are  his  due  (2  Chron.  xxxii.  23). 

CocoEius :  God  has  given  many  swords  to 
serve  the  Church,  which  have  cut  off  tho  perse 
cutors. 

RiEGER  :  The  chief  design  in  the  judgment  o' 
Nineveh  was  that  faith  in  the  God  of  Israel  should 


CHAPTER  in.  29 


thereby  be  powerfully  quickened,  and  the  hearts 

fof  God's  people —  C.  E.]  strengthened  in  waiting 
or  the  promise  (Is.  xxxvii.  31).  It  is  probable 
that  very  good  news  was  brought  into  the  land  of 
Judah  concerning  the  fiiU  of  the  Assyrian  king- 
dom ;  and  the  prophet  hereby  shows  how  they 
should  take  advantage  of  the  state  of  rest  acquired 
for  them  by  it,  by  means  of  good  regulations  in 
the  Church  and  commonwealth,  yea   that   they 


has  special  reference  to  the  King  of  Nineveh  and 
Assyria  ;  and  the  promise  in  this  reference  must 
have  been  very  precious  to  his  contemporaries  op- 
pressed by  Assyria.  But  to  us  the  fundamental 
truth  is  far  more  important,  that  to  the  people  of 
God  a  perfect  deliverance  is  near  at  hand,  and  hf"5 
already  appeared  in  Christ,  by  which  the  Belial, 
from  whom  every  wicked  spirit  [Belialsgeist)  pro 
ceeds,  is  forever  cast  out. 


should  entertain  the  hope,  that  the  Lord  would       Luther  :  On  ver.  2.     With  this  language  he 
restore  the  glory  or  excellency  of  Jacob,  and  also  !  utters  defiance,  and  speaks  as  if  that  were  already 
bring  the  whole  nation  to  its  formerly  flourishing  I  present,  which  was  still  future, 
state.  I     Pfaff  :  Ver.  11.      So  even   the  greatest  king- 

ScHMiEDER  :  The  peace  newly  granted  by  the  [  doms  come  finally  to  nothing,  when  the  Lord  in- 
grace  of  God  was  to  be  celebrated  by  a  new  con-  flicts   upon   them  his  penal  judgments ;   and  all 
secration  of  the  people  (2  Chron.  xxx.  Iff.).  The  their  power  is  unable  to  quench  and  stop  the  fire 
knave,  t.  e.  Belial,  who  has  evil  in  his  mind  against  of  his  wrath. 
the  Lord  and  his  people  (comp.  ch.  i.  11).     This  I 


CHAPTER  in. 

The  Prophet  resumes  the  Description  of  the  Siege  of  Nineveh  (vers.  1—3)  ;  traces  it 
to  her  Idolatry  as  its  cause  (ver.  4)  ;  repeats  the  Divine  Denunciations  intro- 
duced chap.  ii.  13  (vers.  5-7) ;  points  her  to  the  once  celebrated,  but  now  desolate 
Thebes  (vers.  8-10),  declaring  that  such  should  likewise  be  her  Fate;  calls  upon 
her  ironically  to  make  every  Preparation  for  her  Defense,  assuring  her  that  it 
would  be  of  no  avail  (vers.  14-15)  ;  aiid  concludes  by  contrasting  her  former 
prosperous  with  her  latter  remediless  State.  —  C.  E.] 

12  Where  is  the  den  of  the  lions  ? 

And  the  feeding-place  of  the  young  lions  ? 

Where  the  lion  and  the  lioness  walked, 

The  lion's  whelp,  and  no  one  frightened  [them]. 

13  The  lion  tore  for  the  supply  of  his  whelps, 
And  strangled  for  his  lionesses : 

He  filled  his  dens  with  prey, 

And  his  dwelling-places  with  rapine. 

14  Behold  !  I  am  against  thee,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts. 
And  I  cause  her  chariots  to  burn  in  smoke ; 

And  thy  young  lions  the  sword  shall  devour ; 

And  I  cut  off  thy  prey  from  the  earth  ; 

And  the  voice  of  thy  messengers  shall  be  heard  no  mOKf. 

Chap.  ni.     1  Woe,  city  of  blood ! 

She  is  all  full  of  deceit  and  violence  t 
The  prey  departs  not. 

2  The  cracking  of  the  whip ; 

And  the  noise  of  the  rattling  of  the  wheels ; 
And  the  horses  prancing  ; 
And  the  chariots  bounding. 

3  Horseman  mounting ; 

And  the  gleaming  of  the  sword ; 
And  the  lightning  of  the  spear ; 
And  the  multitude  of  slain  : 


30  NAHUM. 

And  the  mass  of  corpses  ; 

And  there  is  no  end  of  dead  bodies : 

They  stumble  over  their  carcasses. 

4  Because  of  the  multitude  of  the  whoredoms  of  the  harloty 
The  very  ^  graceful  one,  the  mistress  of  enchantments) 
Who  sells  nations  with  her  whoredoms, 

And  families  with  her  witchcrafts. 

5  Behold  !  I  am  against  thee,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts  | 
And  uncover  thy  skirts  over  thy  face ; 

And  show  the  nations  thy  nakedness, 
And  kingdoms  thy  shame. 

6  And  I  cast  abominable  things  upon  thee. 
And  disgrace  thee, 

And  make  thee  a  gazing-stock. 

7  And  it  comes  to  pass,  that  every  one  that  sees  thee  shall  flee  from  thee^ 

And  shall  say,  Nineveh  is  destroyed : 

Who  will  pity  her  ? 

Whence  shall  I  seek  comforters  for  thee  ? 

8  Art  thou  better  than  No'^-Amon, 
That  dwelt  by  the  rivers  ? 
Waters  were  round  about  her ; 
Her  bulwark  was  the  sea  : 

Her  wall  was  ^  of  the  sea. 

9  Ethiopia  was  her  strength,  and  Egypt ; 
And  there  was  no  end  : 

Phut  and  Libyans  were  among  thy  help. 

10  She  also  has  gone  into  exile  : 
Into  captivity  [has  she  gone]. 

Her  young  children  also  were  dashed  in  pieceSy 

At  the  corners  *  of  all  the  streets ; 

And  for  her  nobles  they  cast  the  lot, 

And  all  her  great  men  were  bound  with  chains. 

11  Thou  also  shalt  be  drunken : 
Thou  shalt  be  hidden : 

Thou  also  shalt  seek  a  refuge  from  the  enemy. 

12  All  thy  fortresses  are  fig-trees  with  early  figs  : 

If  they  are  shaken,  they  fall  into  the  mouth  of  the  eater* 

13  Behold  !  thy  people  are  women  in  the  midst  of  thee ; 

To  thy  enemies  the  gates  of  thy  land  are  thrown  wide  opOA 

Fire  consumes  thy  bolts. 

14  Draw  for  thyself  water  for  the  siege : 
Make  thy  fortifications  strong : 
Enter  the  clay  and  tread  the  mortar ; 
Make  the  brick-kiln  strong. 

16  There  will  the  fire  devour  thee : 
The  sword  will  cut  thee  off: 
It  shall  consume  thee  like  the  licking-locust  t 


CHAPTER  in. 


31 


Be  thou  numerous  as  the  licking  locust : 
Be  thou  numerous  as  the  swarming  locust. 

16  Thou  hast  multiplied  thy  merchants  more  than  the  stars  of  heaven: 
The  licking-locusts  spread  ^  [themselves  out]  and  fly  away. 

17  Thy  princes  are  as  the  swarming-locust ; 
And  thy  satraps  like  the  locust  of  locusts, 
Which  encamp  in  the  hedges  ^  in  a  cold  day : 
The  sun  arises,  and  they  Hee  : 

And  the  place  where  they  are  is  not  known. 

18  King  of  Assyria  !  thy  shepherds  slumber : 
Thy  nobhis  have  lain  down  : 

Thy  people  are  dispersed  upon  the  mountains, 
And  no  one  gathers  [them]. 

19  There  is  no  healing  of  thy  bruise : 
Thy  wound  is  grievous  : 

All  that  hear  report  of  thee  clap  the  hand  over  thee ; 
For  over  whom  has  not  thy  wickedness  passed  continually  ? 

GRAMMATICAL  AND  TEXTUAL. 

p  Ver.  4.  —  D"^Qt!!73  H  ^J'S  "JH  HS^IS,  beautiful  with  grace,  mistress  of  unteherqfts,  I.  e.,  devoted  to  them 

p  Ver.  8.  —  PDS  ^^3p  "*ZlI?^nn'  ■4'''  '*«"  better  than  No  Amon  ?  This  waa  the  Egyptian  Thebes  or  Diospoti* 
iJie  ancient  and  splencBd  metropolis  of  Upper  Egypt,  called  by  Homer  eKaTOfiTn/Aos,  II.,  ix.  383.  No,  according  to  Q«- 
Benius,  signifies  a  measuring  line,  then  part,  portion  measured  :  No  Amon,  therefore,  signifies  the  portion  of  Amon,  i  e. 
the  po-isessioli  of  the  god  Amon,  as  the  chief  seat  of  his  worship.  Amon  was  the  supreme  god  of  the  Egyptians,  and 
worshipped  at  Thebes  witii  great  pomp.  He  is  usually  depicted,  on  Egyptian  monuments,  with  a  human  body  and  the 
heftd  of  a  ram  ;  and  the  name  is  there  written  Amn,  more  fully  Amn-Re,  i.  e.,  Amon-Sun.     See  Qes.,  Heb.  Lex.,  B.  v. 

rs  —  nnTD'in  □*0.  her  wali  was  of  the  sea,  i.  e.,  consisting  of  the  sea,  formed  by  the  sea. 

"-  IT  T      I  VT    •' 

[4  Ver.  10,  etc.  —  tL'N"^3,  <i(  the  head,  literally,  head  of  the  streets.  Gesenius  renders  it  head  of  the  streets,  corner. 
lAm.  ii.  19. 

[6  Ver.  16.  —  ttl27 -,  'o  invade  for  the  purpose  of  plundering.  Keil  renders  it :  "  The  licker  enters  to  plunder,  and  SUM 
away."  The  LXX.  :  /SpoOxos  iopivncnv  koX  e^eneTacrBr).  The  Vulgate :  bruchus  expansus  est  et  avolavit.  Luther :  aber 
nim  werden  sie  sich  ausbrriicn  wie  Kdfer  und  davonfliegen.    Kleinert :   die  Heuschrecken  bracken  ein  undflogen  demon. 

[6  Ver.  17.  —  ni"n32,  in  the  walls,  or  hedges.  It  is  \ised  to  designate  the  wall  of  a  city  ;  also  that  of  a  vineyard 
It  signifies  also  an  indosure,  ^fold  for  flocks.    See  Qes.,  n")^2.  —  C.  E.] 


ilXEGEIICAL. 

Without  apparent  pause  [Einschnitt],  a  fuller  ex- 
position, which  rises  over  the  ruins,  like  a  shout 
of  triumph,  anJ  at  the  same  time  of  wondering, 
almost  of  sympathizing  astonishment,  is  connected 
with  the  description  of  the  catastrophe.  Hence- 
forth the  reality  of  the  catastrophe  does  not  appear 
so  much  on  the  foreground  as  its  internal  and  ex- 
ternal cause. 

The  strophe,  ii.  12-14,  is  added,  externally 
viewed,  as  a  concluding  strophe  to  chap,  ii.,  just  in 
the  same  way  that  i.  12-14  is  joined  to  chap.  i. 
However,  it  belongs  to  what  follows,  not  merely  by 
its  rhetorical  character  and  connection  (comp.  on 
iii.  1 ),  but  it  is  also  united  to  it  by  certain  external 
clasps :  compare  the  refrain,  ii.  14  a  and  iii.  5  a ; 
and  the  contrast,  ii.  12  d  and  iii.  18  e;  ii.  14  f  and 
iii.  19  c.  It  contains  the  ground  idea  of  the  fol- 
lowing :  Nineveh,  the  robber,  has  vanished  before 
God  and  by  his  agency ;  and  it  is  characterized  at 
the  close,  ver.  14,  as  a  divine  judgment.  "Where 
is  ...  .  the  lion's  brood  ?  Lions  appear  so  fre- 
quently on  the  Assyrian  monuments,  that  we  see 
low  the  people  were  fond  of  comparing  themselves 
and  their  great  ones  to  this  powerftil  animal,  and 
how  they  considered  it,  in  a  certain  manner,  their 
'scatch&on  and  ensign.    This  gives  to  the  sarcasm 


of  the  divine  power  a  beautiful  point  of  connec- 
tion.    And  no  one  alarmed  them.     They  were 
safe  from  disturbance  by  means  of  their  strength. 
Ver.  13.     The  Hon  tore  in  pieces  as  much  as 

his  young  ones  wanted  (on  "''12  comp.  Ob.  .'>),  he 
strangled  for  his  lionesses  (comp.  Judges  v.  28 
tF.),  and  he  filled  his  dens  with  prey,  and  his 
lurking-holes  with  spoil.  The  Assurakbal  cyl- 
inder, which  Talbot  has  deciphered  {Assyrian  Texts 
Translated,  p.  20  flf.),  gives  an  idea  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  kings  of  Niue^■eh  amassed  [their  treas- 
ures] :  On  the  22d  of  the  month  I  set  out  from 
Calah.  I  passed  over  the  river  Tigris.  From  the 
right  bank  of  the  Tigris  I  received  a  rich  tribute. 
I  stopped  in  the  city  Tahiti.  On  the  6th  day  of 
the  month  I  left  the  city  Tahiti.  I  marched  along 
the  river  Karmesch.  I  stopped  in  the  city  Maga- 
risi  ....  I  stopped  in  the  city  Schadikunni.  The 
tribute  of  this  city  was  gold,  silver,  brass,  oxen, 
sheep I  stopped  in  the  city  Katni.  I  re- 
ceived tribute  from  the  Sunaeem And  so 

torth,  two  page.s  long.  Compare  the  similar  ac- 
counts of  the  black  Obelisk  of  Palmnnassar  II 
and  of  Sennacherib  in  Spiegel  xx.  222,  224. 

Now  all  that  passes  away,  for,  ver.  14,  behold, 
I  come  a9:air,st  thee  (comp.  iii.  5  ;  Jer.  Ii.  25), 
says  Jehovah  of  hosts  who  is   able  to  raise  np 


32 


NAHUM. 


against  Assyria  very  difil'rent  hosts  from  the  Modes  | 
and  Babylonians  (comp.  Doct.  and  Eth.,  below) ; 
and  I  bum  in  smoke,  so  that  it  passes  into  smoke 
(Tarn.)  her,  Nineveh's,  chariots.  The  prophet 
again  and  again  turns  himself,  in  spirit,  from  Nin- 
eveh to  Judah  (ii.  1),  so  that  the  suffixes  are  con- 
itantly  changing. 

And  I  destroy  tliy  plunder  from  the  earth., 
80  that  the  insolent  voice  of  thy  messengers  wHl 
no  more  be  heard  (comp.  2  Kings  xix.  10  ff.). 
Hieron. :  "  Nequaquam  terras  ultra  vastahis,  nee 
tributa  exiges,  nee  atidieiitur  per  provineias  emissarii 

tut. "  For  the  form  npSS^J?  (varr.  HpD  —  and 
n5?.)  comp.  01s.,  sec.  94,  2. 

[Keil :  The  prophet,  beholding  the  destruction 
in  spirit  as  having  already  taken  place,  looks  round 
for  the  site  on  which  the  mighty  city  once  stood, 
and  sees  it  no  more.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the 
question  in  ver.  11.  He  describes  it  as  the  dwell- 
ing-place of  lions.  The  point  of  comparison  is  the 
predatory  lust  of  its  rulers  and  their  warriors,  who 
crushed  the  nations  like  lions,  plundering  their 
treasures,  and  bringing  them  together  in  Nineveh. 
To  fill  up  the  picture,  the  epithets  applied  to  the 
lions  are  grouped  together  according  to  the  differ- 
ence of  sex  and  age.  Hl'nS,  is  the  full-grown  male 
lion  ;  M'^2^,  the  lioness  ;  ~l"*D3,  the  young  lion, 
though  old  enough  to  go  in  search  of  prey  ;  -^."^j 

nj'nW,  catulus  leonis,  the  lion's  whelp,  which  cannot 
yet  seek  prey  for  itself.  .... 

The  last  clause  expresses  the  complete  destruc- 
tion of  the  imperial  might  of  Assyria.  The  mes- 
sengers of  Nineveh  are  partly  heralds,  as  the  car- 
riers of  the  king's  command ;  partly  halberdiers, 
or  delegates  who  fultilled  the  ruler's  commands 
(cf.  1  Kings  xix.  2 ;  2  Kings  xix.  23).     The  suffix 

in  nppS7P  is  in  a  lengthened  form,  on  account 
of  the  tone  at  the  end  of  the  section,  analogous 
to  n^nS  in  Ex.  xxix.  35,  and  is  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  Aramaism  or  a  dialectical  variation 
(Ewald,  sec.  258,  a).  The  tsere  of  the  last  syl- 
lable is  occasioned  by  the  previous  tsere.  Jerome 
has  summed  up  the  meaning  very  well  as  follows  : 
"  Tho'i  wilt  never  lay  countries  waste  anymore, 
nor  exact  tribute,  nor  will  thy  messengers  be  heard 
throughout  thyprovinc.es."  (On  the  last  clause, 
see  Ezek.  xix.  9.)  — C.  E.] 

A  more  extended  statement  of  the  Cause  of  the 
Destruction  follows  (iii.  1-7),  whilst  both  the  ground- 
ideas  cxpresse  1  in  ii.  12  ff.,  .are  further  carried  out : 
(a)  the  rapine  of  Nineveh  (iii.  1-4) ;  (6)  the  "  be- 
aold  I  come  against  thee  "  (iii.  5-7). 

O  city  of  blood !  ">in  is  originally  a  pure 
vocative  interjection,  yet  the  threatening  signifi- 
cation (vae!)  is  so  evidently  required  by  the  con- 
aection  in  passages  like  the  present  (Is.  x.  1),  and 
Hah.  ii.  15  ff.,  t'lat  it  cannot  very  well  (with  Hup- 
"eld)  be  denied. 

She  is  altogether  deceit;  filled  with  crime. 
To  the  blood-guiltiness  (□'*)3'7 ;  comp.  PHl^  ii- 
12  f.)  of  Nineveh  is  added  as  a  further  cause  of 
>ier  fall,  her  universally  acknowledged  craftiness, 
which  Ahaz  once  experienced.  Abarb. :  "Quia  vanis 
vollicitationibus  auxilii  et  protexAionis  gentes  decipiebat " 

(comp.  Hah.  ii.  15).  piS  denotes  the  violent  break- 
ng  of  an  existing  barrier  fGen.  xxvii.  40). 


She  ceases  not  from  plunder ;  ^"^^2,  nomen  ckv 
tionis  pro  inf.,  as  iu  ii.  14.     [Keil  and  Delitzsch 

tt7^D^  Sv,  the  prey  does  not  depart,  never  fails. 

Mush,  in  the  hiphil  here,  used  intransitively,  "  to 
depart,"  as  in  Ex.  xiii.  22  ;  Ps.  Iv.  12,  and  not  in 
a  transitive  sense,  "  to  cause  to  depart,"  to  let  go  ; 
for  if  'ir  (the  city)  were  the  subject,  we  should 
have  tarnish.  The  rule,  however,  that  verbs,  ad- 
jectives, and  pronouns  agree  in  gender  and  numbei 
with  the  noun  to  which  they  relate,  is  subject  to 
exceptions.  See  Nordheimer's  Heb.  Gram.,  vol. 
ii.   sec.   755,  2;  and  Green's,  sec.  275,  I,  a,  b,  c. 

Henderson  renders   ^'^^^  ^^>  "  the  prey  is  nut 

removed,"  and  refers  it  to  the  fact  that  the  Assyi-- 
ians  had  not  restored  the  ten  tribes.  Others 
translate  it,  with  Kleinert,  non  desinit  rapere.  See 
Gesenius'  Thesaurus,  s.  v. — C.  E.]  Therefore 
judgment  must  certainly  come  upon  her,  and  the 
prophet  graphically  proseuta  ii,  again,  first  to  the 
ear,  then  distinctly  to  the  eye  ;  then  he  breaks  out, 
in  ver.  2,  with  the  exclamation, — 

Hark  !  ^"1p,  as  frequently  in  an  absolute  sen- 
tence expressing,  at  the  same  time,  inteijection, 

verb,  and  object  (Is.  xiii.  4).  l7"ip  is  here  a 
noun  in  the  construct  state  :  it  cannot  very  well  be 
two  or  three  things  at  once.  —  C.  E.]  The  crack 
of  the  whip,  and  noise  of  the  rattling  of  wheels, 
and  the  horse  galloping,  and  chariots  bound- 
ing. 

Ver.  3.  Horsemen  rearing,  properly  causing 
to  rear,  the  riders  making  the  horses  rear  on  high 
with  the  bridle,  and  flaming  of  the  sword,  and 
flashing  of  the  lance,  and  a  multitude  ol 
w^ovmded,  and  a  wall  of  corpses.  Many  of  the 
nouns  are  assonant  liv  means  of  the  vowel  o.  — 
There  is  no  end  of  dead.  Ctesias,  in  Diodor., 
,5ays  :  The  waves  of  the  river  flow(^rl  red  a  long  dis- 
tance, so  groat  was  the  number  of  the  slain.  And 
they  stumble  over  their  dead.  And  why  all 
this  .' 

Ver.  4.  On  account  of  the  nultitude  ("jQ,  as 
in  Ob.  10)  of  the  whoredoms  (comp.  on  Mic.  i. 
7)   of  the  whore ;  on  account  of  the  charming 

sweetness  (H^II^  is  a  sub?.)  of  the  sorceress. 

Idolatry  and  witchcraft  are  marks  of  the  specific- 
ally heathen  character,  the  ultimate  cause  of  all 
God's  judgments  upon  the  heathen  and  heathen- 
dom (comp.  i.  15  ;  Mic.  i.  7  ;  v.  11).  The  restric- 
tion of  her  fornications  to  her  commercial  inter- 
course has  a  plausible  support  in  Is.  xxiii.  5,  but 
it  has  in  the  connection  no  real  force,  and  must 
also  be  more  distinctly  marked.  The  idolatry  of 
the  heathen  is  called  adultery,  not  in  the  special 
sense  in  which  it  is  applied  to  Israel,  but  in  the 
established  prophetical  usage  (Rev.  xvii.  1^.     Com 

pare  Luther  in  the  Horn,  suggestions.  n^272 
comp.  Gen.  xxxvii.  19. 

She  sold  the  nations  ....  with  L/>r  witch- 
crafts. She  was  successful  iu  everything,  there- 
fore she  always  became  more  secure  and  obstinate 
in  her  confidence  in  hei  gods.  The  structure  o* 
the  passage  is  an  interfalary  and  connected  par 
allelism :  abba ;  vers.  1  and  4  and  vers.  2  and  3 
belong  together.  Just  as  we  had  already  above,  L 
11-14  (11  and  14;  12  and  13)  ;  ii.  6-9;  comp.  alst 
below  the  articulation  of  the  sentence  15  V,  ff. 

But  this  must  cernainly  have  an  end      Ver.  i 


CHAPTER  III. 


33 


Behold,  I  come  against  thee  LvS,  when  the 
motion  or  direction  is  hostile,  may  be  rendered 
against  —  C.  K],  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  and 
uncover  thy  skirts,  throw  them  so  high  that  they 
reach  over  thy  lace,  and  cause  the  nations  to 
Bee  ....  thy  shame.  Nineveh  is  represented  as 
a  virgin  not  on  account  of  any  virtue,  but  as  one 
nii;  J.  t  srbdi'^d  (coiiip.  al.ovy  ii.  8] ;  f  ud  her  >ub 
je<  don  u  de'r  hi  tig-ine  ol'  that  which  is  most  'Ii— 
gr^icetal  i>)  a  .v'ouitn.  Couiii.  Ts.  xlvii.  3,  and  the 
gimilar  connection  [of  ideas],  Hab.  ii.  10. 

Ver.  6.  And  I  cast  abominable  things  upon 
thee :  idols,  according  to  tlie  usual  mode  of  ex- 
pression; also,  I  bury  thee  imder  thy  idols  (i.  14) 
Mich.  (Others  :  I  pelt  thee  with  tilth.  But  the  pas- 
sage, 2  Kings  xix.  27,  cited  by  Hitzig  in  support 
of  this,  dues  not  prove  it.)  And  I  make  thee 
despised,  yea,  make  thee  a  gazing-stock. 

Ver.  7.  And  every  one  who  sees  thee  flees 
from  thee  and  says :  Nineveh  is  laid   waste ! 

mili',  Pual  with  Kametz,  like  C^^P  i.  4,  Ges. 
sec.  52,  Rem.  4.  Who  will  comfort  her  ?  ( Jer. 
XV.  5).  "T^D"'  is  voluntative.  She  has  injured 
all  (comp.  ver.  19).  AVhen  all  forsooth  speak  in 
this  way,  whence  shall  I  then,  says  the  prophet, 
seek  a  comforter  for  thee  ?     Is.  Ii.  19. 

Vers.  8-11.  The  Certainty  of  the  Destruction. 
[Keil  and  Delitzsch  :  "  Nineveh  will  not  be  able  to 
protect  heroflf  from  destruction  even  by  her  great 
power,  'iiie  propuet  wrests  this  vain  hope  away 
from  her  by  pointing  in  verse  8  ff.  to  the  fall  of 
the  mighty  Thebes  in  Egypt."  —  C.  E.].  Even 
the  powerful  Thebes  was  not  able  to  withstand 
destruction.  Art  thou  to  me  {dafivus  ethicus, 
cumpare  on  Jonah  iii.  3)  any  better,  standing 
nearer,  more  important,  more  worth  (for  the  form 

'^atp'^n  instead  of  ''3t?''ri,  compare  Olsh.  sec.  242 
a,  Remnrk),  than  No  Amon,  /.  e.,  Thebes,  the 
renowned  capital  of  Upper  Egypt.  Compare  Jer. 
xlvi.  25,  and  Ezek.  xxx.  14  if.  In  the  last  passage 
it  is  merely  called  No  ;  but  here  it  is  more  exacth' 
defined  by  the  addition  of  Amon,  which  refers 
to  the  great  temple  of  Amon  there.  Compare 
Herod,  i.  182;  ii.  42  (LXX.  Ez.  I.e.  Aths  w6\ts ; ' 
comp.  Eiod.  i.  45  :  'T-n-o  neu  AiyvrTiwi/  KaAou/iev-qv 
Aibs  iv6Ktv  f^v  ix^yd\y]v  uwh  Si  tcHiv  ''LWi]V(iov 
&-f}Pas).  [It  is  necessary  to  compare  the  Hebrew 
text  of  Jer.  xlvi.  25.  and  Ezok.  xxx.  14  ff.  in  or- 
der to  verify  Kleinert's  statement  that  in  the  latter 
passage  Thebes  is  merely  called  No ;  for  in  the 
Enc.^>'i  '":rs:  .11  l^.^•  fcK-in'T  pas>;igc  reads  only  No, 
Amon  being  rendered  by  "multitude." — C.  E]. 
"Which  [was  destroyed  —  C.  E.]  notwithstand- 
ing, like  thee  she  was  situated  by  the  water, 
namely,  on  the  river  Nile,  on  both  banks  of  it 
(Strabo,  xvii.  p.  816),  and  also  like  thee,  yea,  more 
than  thou,  was  protected  by  the  water  on  every 

Bide  of  her,  by  canals  (hence  the  plural  □"^"'S'*), 
so  that  one  could  justly  say  of  her  :  her  rampart 
was  the  sea  —  a  rampart  consisting  of  the  sea,  a 
rampart  which  is  the  sea ;  as  it  is  similarly  further 

•aid :  her  wall  was  of  sea.  (H  7^n  D''  127M  must 

mean,  whose  rampart  the  sea  was).  C  sometimes 
even  denotes  the  Nile  (Is.  xix.  5). 

Ver.  9.  And  how  many  allies  she  had  !  Cush, 
the  strong,  properly,  that;  ^vhioh  is  strong  (3  fern. 

prtet  from  Q^37)  in  an  elliptical  relative    clause 
Qea.  sec.   123,  3).     Tho  metheg,  wth   the   first 


Kametz, is  doubtless  complemental  (comp.  there- 
verse,  Mic.  iii.  6)  ;  if  one  does  not  with  the  versions 

prefer  to  insert  Mappik  in  the  final  H     Cush  was 

her  (Thebes')  strength  (from  D!J3?).    The  reading 

in  question,  the  simple  feminine  substantive  ostmaJ* 
(Cush  is  strength)  is  feeble  and  clumsy;)  and 
Egypt  and  so  ibrth,  it'  1  wou.  [  ciiume:  ite  iur- 
ther,  without  end,  Phut  and  Lii  jin  were  ibr  thy 
help.  Nahumjn  keeping  with  l;i«  vivaci'ius style, 
now   addresses   the   absent  person,   of  whom  he 

speaks.  The  closing  predicate  "7n"lT3?Zl  VH  (the 

3  predicative,  as  in  Job  xxiii.  13 ;  Proverbs  iii.  26) 

refers  to  all  that  have  been  named.  Cush  and 
Mizraim ;  Ethiopia,  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt; 
Phut  and  Lubim  ;  Libya  and  Nubia  (comp.  Hitzig 
on  Is.  Ixvi.  19).  Both  these  appear  also  elsewhere 
as  confederates  of  and  of  the  same  origin  with  the 
powers  of  the  Upper  Nile  (Jer.  xlvi.  9 ;  Ez.  xxx. 
5).  And  notwithstanding  all  this  she  could  not 
preserve  herself. 

Ver.  10 :  She  also  was  given  up  to  exile  (Ezr. 
vi.  21 ),  she  went  into  captivity  (Dent,  xviii.  1 ) 
also  her  children  were  dashed  to  pieces  in  al 
street  comers,  as  was  customai'y  in  conquests 
(2  Kings  viii.  12),  and  hence  the  final  doom  of  the 
savage  conquerors  on  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris 
was  announced  from  the  talio  point  of  view  (Is. 
xiii.  Ifi;  Ps.  cxxxvii.  0)  :  and  ovei*  Tic-  nobles 
(Is.  xxiii.  S)  they  cast  lota  (comp.  Ob.  11) ;  and 
her  great  men  were  bound  in  chains.  That  the 
event  of  which  the  prophet  speaks  is  not  a  future 
one  (Hier.,  Theod.,  Cocc,  Strauss),  is  proved  in 
the  first  place  externally  by  the  tenses  employed  : 
the  absolutely  perfect  action  of  verses  8-10  stands 
in  manifestly  designed  antithesis  to  the  concluding 
future,  ver.  i  1 ;  and  in  the  second  place  it  is  proved 
by  sound  logic,  inasmuch  as  the  prophet  would 
scarcely,  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  a  future 
event  by  an  argumeiituin  ad  hominem,  borrow  from 
the  future  another  example  still  much  more  remote 
and  much  more  improbable  [anch  mehr  ausser  der 
Berechnung  stehendes].  We  must,  therefore,  seek  for 
the  capture  (not  destruction,  for  of  that  the  text 
says  nothing)  of  No  Aminon,  to  ^vhich  allusion 
has  been  made,  in  a  time  which  lay  back  of  this 
prophecy  ;  and  if  it  cannot  be  found  in  that  time, 
then  we  would  certainly  be  compelled,  with  Hitzig, 
to  cut  the  knot,  and  consider  this  verse  a  gloss 
from  post-exile  times,  and  —  an  expedient  which 
has  fallen  into  disu's'i  —  re^^r  \\  to  th"  car,tur^  of 
No  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  which,  even  historically, 
is  by  no  means  fully  and  clearly  established.  But 
consider  ( 1 )  that  Is.  xx.  would  not  have  been  ad- 
mitted into  the  collection  of  the  writings  of  Isaiah 
(Deut.  x-idii.  22),  had  not  the  fulfillment,  i.  e.,  the 
conquest  of  Egypt  by  Sargon,  been  known  as  a 
historical  eventin  the  time  designated  by  Isaiah ; 
(2)  that  Sargon,  who,  in  the  year  of  the  conquest 
of  Samaria,  succeeded,  on  the  Assyrian  throne, 
Salmanassar  IV.,  who  died  about  that  time,  men- 
tions expressly,  according  to  his  inscription  in  the 
palace  founded  by  him  at  Khorsabad,  the  bound- 
aries of  Egypt  as  the  scene  of  his  deeds  (Spiegel, 
XX.  224;)  (3)  that  Rawlinson  (Monarchies,  ii.  416, 
f.)  and  Oppert  (Sargomdes,  p.  22,  26  f.)  have  ex- 
tracted, from  a  quite  mutilated  passage  of  an  in- 
scription found  there,  an  account,  in  conformity 
with  the  statement  above,  of  the  overthrow  of  Se- 
bek  (=  So,  2  Kings  xvii.)  king  of  Egypt,  (f/omp. 
also  Jourrt.  Asiat.,  xii.  462  ff.,  concerning  the  battl« 


34 


NAllUM. 


of  Rabck,  t.  e.  Heliopolis)  [compare  Smith's  Dic- 
tionarij  of  the  Bible,  article  "So" — C.  E.] ;  that 
finally  (4)  the  successors  of  Sargon  ascribe  to 
themselves  the  standing  title  "  King  of  Cush  and 
Mizraim"  (Opjiert,  Chronological  Table;  Rodiger, 
viii.  673).  In  view  of  these  facts  we  must  accord 
to  this  passage  [that  portion  of  the  text  under 
consideration — C.  E.]  the  significance  of  a  joint 
testimony,  which,  with  the  others,  furnishes  a  mu- 
tual [solidarische]  warrant  of  their  truth,  and  ac- 
cept, as  a  historical  fact,  a  capture  of  Thebes  by 
Sargon,  or  bv  his  commander-in-chief  Tartan  (Is. 
XX.  3).  This  Delitzsch  {Is.,  p.  238)  and  Keil  do. 
Hita-g's  objection  to  this  that  the  prophet  could 
not  very  well  remind  the  Assyrians  of  one  of  their 
own  conquests,  without  in  any  way  expressly  in- 
dicating that  it  was  even  their  act,  since  otherwise 
every  one  must  think  of  the  act  of  another  people, 
has  no  force.  Rather  the  reverse  is-  the  case ;  if 
that  capture  did  not  proceed  from  Assyria  herself, 
it  (1)  asks  too  much  from  Nineveh  to  draw  conclu- 
sions from  an  event  which  was  far  separated  from 
her,  and  which  occurred  in  the  other  end  of  the 
inhabited  world;  and  how  (2)  should  Hitzig's  sub- 
sequent glossarist  come  to  remind  the  still  existing 
Nineveh  of  the  destruction  of  a  city,  which  must 
have  followed  after  that  of  Nineveh  at  least  twenty- 
five  years.  The  first  of  these  two  reasons  is  op- 
posed to  the  reference  by  Ewald  to  a  very  apocry- 
phal and  isolated  statement  of  Ammianus  Mar- 
cellinus  concerning  a  capture  of  Thebes  by  the 
Carthaginians.  But  Nahum  himself  intimates 
plainly  enough  why  he  expressly  mentioned  Thebes 
among  the  Assyrian  conquests  :  by  its  situation  on 
the  river,  defenses,  and  allies,  it  had  a  striking  re 
semblance  to  Nineveh. 

[I  have  been  decided  in  referring  it  to  a  conquest 
by  Sargon,  because  this  can  be  confirmed  by  argu- 
ments from  the  Bible,  and  it  is  sufficient  for  the 
understanding  [of  the  passage].  Tliere  is,  how- 
ever, to  me  another  still  more  probable  [ground 
for  the]  reference  which  I  have  made,  in  the  agree- 
ment of  the  results  of  investigations  among  the 
inonuments.  Assarhaddon  is  called,  on  a  lion  dug 
out  by  the  Tarl.s  at  Nebi  Yunus,  not  merely  kin^', 
but  conqueror  of  Cush  and  Mizraim  (Rod.,  viii. 
673.  Comp.  also  Abyd.  in  Euseb.  in  the  Chron. 
Arm.).  On  his  Cylinder  (in  Talbot,  ^ss.  C.  t.,  p. 
13),  Egyptian  deities  are  delineated  and  military 
expeditions  against  the  countries  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean ;  he  appears  even  to  have  conquered  Ara- 
bia (Spiegel,  XX.  225).  During  his  sickness  the 
Egyptico-Ethiopian  king  Tirhaka  (692-664;  Lep- 
sius,  Koningsb.  d.  alt.  Eg.,  i.  96),  succeeded  in  re- 
conquering Memphis,  Thebes,  and  other  cities,  so 
that  his  [the  Assyrian  conqueror's]  son  Assui'- 
bani-pal  must  have  carried  the  war  anew  into  those 
countries.  If  the  decipherings  pertaining  to  the 
point  on  hand  have  been  settled  with  certainty,  we 
must  refer  the  passage  [ver.  10]  either  to  a  con- 
quest by  Assarhaddon  himself,  or  still  rather  to 
that  by  Tirhaka,  which,  it  is  easy  to  see,  must  have 
grieved  the  Assyrians,  which  as  an  admonitory 
example  must  have  given  them  a  double  sting, 
and  which,  if  we  place  the  time  of  Nahum's  proph- 
icy  under  Assarhaddon  (Introd.  2),  was  still  quite 
fresh  in  their  memory.  It  would  also  furnish  an- 
other effective  argument  for  this  date.  But  in  any 
'ase.  there  is  not  the  least  necessity  of  thinking  of 
she  cajtture  by  Nebuchadnezzar  as  the  only  one 
possible.] 

[Thebes  was  long  the  capital  of  Upper  Egypt 
ind   the  seat  of  the  DioFpolitan    djTiasties,  that 


ruled  over  al.  Egypt  at  the  era  <if  its  highest  s])len- 
dor.  Upon  the  monuments  this  city  bears  thre« 
distinct  names  —  that  of  the  Nome,  a  sacred  name, 
and  the  name  by  wiiich  it  is  commonly  known  in 
profane  history.  Of  the  twenty  Nomes  or  districts 
into  which  Upper  Egypt  was  divided,  the  fourth 
in  order,  proceeding  northward  from  Nubia,  was 
designated  in  the  hieroglyphics  as  Za'm  —  the 
rhathyrite  of  the  Greeks  —  and  Thebes  appear* 
as  the  "  Za'm-city,"  the  principal  city  or  metrop- 
olis of  the  Za'ni  Nome.  In  later  times  the  name 
Za'ni  was  applied  in  common  speech  to  a  partic 
ular  locality  on  the  western  side  of  Thebes. 

In  Hebrew  the  name  of  Thebes  is  No-Amon 
(from  ^3,  probably  dwelling,  and  pijS  ;  but  the 
Egyptian  name  is  P-Ainen,  i.  e.,  house  of  the  god 
Amun,  who  had  a  celebrated  temi)le  there  (Herod, 
i.  182  ;  ii.  42  ;  see  Bru^st'h,  freogr.  Insrhr.,  i.  p.  177). 
The  Greeks  called  it  Aths  -toAis,  generally  with  the 
predicate  t)  fieyaKr}  (Diod.  Sic,  i.  45)  the  Great,  or 
Orj^T],  from  the  profai'e  name  of  the  city,  which 
was  Apet.  This  name,  with  the  feminine  article 
prefixed,  becatne  Tapet,  or  Tape,  or  Tepe,  0»7)3»7, 
generally  used  in  the  plural  Ovj/Sat.  It  was  de- 
scribea  by  Homer  (//.,  ix.  383)  as  eKaT6uirv\os : 
and  the  Pharaohs  of  the  eighteenth  to  the  twen- 
ticih  dynasties,  from  Amosis  to  the  last  Rameses, 
redded  in  it,  and  constriictfd  tho^e  works  of  archi- 
tecture which  were  admired  by  Greeks  and  Romans, 
and  the  remains  of  which  still  fill  the  visitor  with 
astonishment.  It  was  situated  on  both  banks  of 
the  Nile,  which  was  1500  feet  in  breadth  at  that 
point,  and  was  built  upon  a  broad  plain  formed  by 
the  falling  back  of  the  Libj^an  and  Arabian  moun- 
tain wall,  over  which  there  are  new  scattered  nine 
larger  or  smaller  Fellah  villages,  including  upon 
the  eastern  bank  Karnak  and  Lus  tr,  and  upon  the 
western  Gurnah  and  Medinet  Abu,  with  their  plan- 
tations of  date-palms,  sugar-canes,  corn,  etc. 

Though  Ave  have  no  express  historical  account 
of  the  capture  of  Thebes  by  the  Assyrians,  yet  a 
struggle  between  Assyria  and  Egypt  for  supremacy 
in  Hither  Asia  may  be  inferred  from  brief  notices 
in  the  Old  Testament  (2  Kings  xvii.  4).  See 
Smith's  Dirtionan/  of  thf  Bible,  article  "  Thebes  "  ; 
Keil  and  l^elitzscb  on  ver.  iU.  —  G.  E.] 

Like  No-Amon,  Nineveh  also  shall  have  no  pro- 
tection in  its  rivers. 

Ver.  11.  Thou  also  shalt  be  drunken  (comp. 
Hab.  ii.  16),  receive  the  cup  of  God's  fury  in  judg- 
ment ;  Thou  shalt  perish  in  darkness,  literally, 
shalt  be  hidden  :  "Abscundi  Hebrceis  stepe  est  in  ni- 
hiltim  redigi."  Calvin.  Thou  also  shalt  seek  for 
help  against  the  enemy,  for  protection  against  the 
advancing  enemy,  as  No  engaged  the  nations  to 

help  her  :  ^S  is  used  as  in  Is.  xxv.  4.   Keil.    (One 

could  also  translate  ^^  hy  from,  from  among :  thou 
shalt  desire  help  froiii  the  enemy,  and  thick  of  th« 
fact  that  the  King  of  Assyria  himself  sint  Nabo- 
polassar  to  maintain  Babylon  against  tke  Scyth- 
ians.    This,  however,  is  more  remote. 

["  According  to  Abydenus,  who  probably  drew 
his  information  from  Berosus,  Nabopolassar  was 
appointed  to  the  government  of  Babylon  by  the  last 
Assyrian  king,  at  the  moment  when  tie  Medei 
were  about  to  make  their  final  attack  ;  whereupon, 
betraying  the  trust  reposed  in  him,  he  went  overt* 
the  enemy,  arranged  a  marriage  between  his  son 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  the  daughter  of  the  Median 
leader,  and  joined  in  the  last  siege  of  the  city- 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible.  —  C.  E.] 


CHAPTER  in. 


["  Thou  wilt  seek  refuge  from  the  enemy,"  t.  e., 
TO  this  connection,  seek  it  in  vain,  or  without 
finding  it ;  not,  "  Thou  wilt  surely  demand  salva- 
tion from  the  enemy  by  surrender  "  (Strauss),  for 

al'iSn  does  not  belong  to  ''tZJpSrp,  but  to  fT^t^ 
(cf.  Is*  XXV.  4."     Keil  and  Delitzsch.  —  C.  E.] 

Immediately  subjoined  to  this  [ver.  11]  is  the 
remedilessness  of  the  destruction,  vers.  12,  13.  All 
thy  fortresses  are  fig-trees  with  early  figs ;  if 
one  shake  them,  they  faU  into  the  mouth  of  the 
eater,  comp.  Is.  xxviii.  4  ;  as  if  they  were  already 

waiting  for  him.  On  the  ^^  Hitzig  remarks  :  If 
the  motion  made  downward  to  the  object  is  at  the 
same  time  an  entering  one,  then  the  latter  is  tacitly 

supplied,  and  merely  757  is  written. 

["  The  tertinm  compar.  is  the  facility  with  which 
the  castles  will  be  taken  and  destroyed  by  the  enemy 
assaulting  them  (cf.  Is.  xxviii.  4)."  Keil  and  De- 
litzsch.—C.  E.] 

Ver.  13.  Behold  thy  people,  once  invincibly 
stern  (Is.  v.  27  ff ),  are  women  in  the  midst  of 
thee ;  comp.  ii.  1 1 J ,  by  reason  of  anguish  and  terror. 
Possibly  the  prophet  thinks,  at  the  same  time,  of 
the  effeminate  manners,  which  finally  crept  into 
Nineveh  (Layard,  p.  360).  ["  The  point  of  com- 
parison here  is  not  the  cowardliness  of  the  war- 
riors, but  the  weakness  and  inability  to  offer  any 
successful  resistance  into  which  the  nation  of  the 
Assyrians,  which  was  at  other  times  so  warlike, 
would  be  reduced  through  the  force  of  the  divine 
judgment  inflicted  upon  Nineveh  (compare  Is.  xix. 
16  ;  Jer.  1.  37  ;  li.  30.")  Keil  and  Delitzsch.— C  E.] 

The  gates  of  thy  land  open  spontaneously  and 
without  effort  to  thine  enemies  (ver.  12  ;  comp.  on 
ii.  7 1  ;  fire  consumes  thy  bars.  The  gates  and  bars 
of  the  land  are  probably  the  fortresses  guarding  the 
frontiers. 

[Different  views  are  possible  concerning  the  ref- 
erence of  "7^3"'Sv,  It  can  be  connected  with  what 
precedes,  and  can  be  translated  either :  "  thy  peo- 
ple are  women  (through  cowardice)  in  respect  to 
the  enemy  "  (J.  D.  Mich.,  Riick,  Holem.) ;  or : 
"  as  touching  thy  people,  the  women,  the  lionesses 
(ii.  13),  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  enemy  (comp.  Judges 
T.  30).  The  latter  translation,  which  I  find  in  no 
interpreter,  has  some  probability.  The  Masorites 
leave  the  matter  undecided.  Yet  on  rythmical 
grounds  I  have  preferred  the  usual  construction 
with  what  follows.] 

[Keil :  ^'^^j'^/  belongs  to  what  follows,  and  is 
placed  first,  and  pointed  with  Zakeph-Katon  for  the 
sake  of  emphasis.  —  C.  E.] 

This  remedilessness  is  further  described  by  two 
peculiar  apodoses,  which  are  construed  adversa- 
tively  (though  —  yet),  and  whose  protases  are  ex- 
pressed in  the  imperative.  On  the  use  of  the  im- 
perative in  the  protasis  of  conditional  clauses,  com- 
Eare  Ges.,  sec.  130,  2  b,  128,  2  c,  and  Rupert  v. 
)eutz  in  Burck,  p.  363. 

First  Antithesis,  vers.  14,  15  a,  connecting  with 
TCr.  13.  [Keil:  Vers.  14-19.  In  conclusion,  the 
prophet  takes  away  fi'om  the  city  so  heavily  laden 
with  guilt  the  last  prop  to  its  hope,  —  namely,  re- 
liance upon  its  fortifications,  and  the  numerical 
strength  of  its  population.  —  C.  E.] 

Draw  for  thyself  water  of  the  (for  the)  siege 
[water  necessary  for  a  long-continued  siege  —  C. 
E.]  :  make  strong  thy  bulwarks  —  prepare  the 
brick-kiln,  in  order  to  burn  bricks  for  the  bul- 
warks :  there,  in  the  very  midst  of  these  prepara- 


tions, shall  the  fire  devour  thee,  the  sword  shaU 
destroy  thee  as  locusts  [locusts  is  the  nomina- 
tive:  as  locusts  destroy  —  C.  E.]  so  resistless  will 
be  thy  ruin. 

The  Second  Antithesis,  vers.  1 5  b-17,  is  connected 
with  this  last  word  by  similarity  of  sound  and  as- 
sociation of  ideas.  Multiply  thyself,  if  thou  wilt ; 
literally,  make  thyself  a  weight,  a  multitnde,  a 
swarm  (comp.  i.  12),  swarm  abundantly.     In  the 

root  ^23,  as  in  ii.  10,  iii.  3,  the  signification  of  a 
multitude,  and  that  of  a  burdensome  multitude,  is 
prominent  (comp.  Eccles.  xii.  5).  Multiply  abun- 
dantly like  the  hcking  locusts,  multiply  thyself 

Uke  the  swarming  locusts.    n2"1S  is  a  .synonym 

of  pv^  (comp.  Joel  i.),  There  follows,  before  the 
apodosis  (ver.  17  c)  is  introduced,  a  parenthesis, 
with  which  it  afterwards  enters  into  construction  . 
a  parenthesis,  in  which  the  ironical  summons  just 
uttered  is  filled  out,  and  its  historical  warrant  ex- 
hibited. 

Ver.  16.  Thou  hast  indeed  multiplied  thy 
merchants  more  than  the  stars  of  heaven. 
Taking  into  view  the  entire  connection,  it  is  not 
easy  to  understand  this  of  merchants  in  the  proper 
sense,  as  in  Is.  xxiii.  3  f.,  Ez.  xxvii.  3  f.,  but,  accord- 
ing to  ver.  4,  of  the  despotic  manner  of  trafficking 
in  men  as  in  merchandise,  which  is  practiced  by 
conquering  hordes. 

[Keil  and  Delitzsch  :  That  Nineveh  was  a  very 
rich  commercial  city  may  be  inferred  from  its  posi- 
tion, namely,  just  at  the  point  where,  according  to 
oriental  nations,  the  east  and  west  meet  together, 
and  where  the  Tigris  becomes  navigable,  so  that  it 
was  very  easy  to  sail  from  thence  into  the  Persian 
Gulf;  just  as  afterwards  Mosul,  which  was  situated 
opposite,  became  great  and  powerful  through  its 
widely-extended  trade.  —  C.  E.] 

Besides  ver.  17,  the  words  which  immediately 
follow  show  this  :  "  The  hcking  locusts  enter  to 

plunder  (t2tC2  used  of  hosts,  Job  i-  17  ;  Judges 
ix.  33  f.),  and  fly  away:  i.  e.,  thy  armies  wero 
like  swarms  of  locusts,  which  alighted  on  a  conn 
try,  laid  it  waste,  and  left  it  desolate,  —  a  compari 
son  without  the  particle  of  comparison,  which  is 
frequently  the  case  (comp.  on  Hab.  i.  11). 

[Keil  and  Delitzsch  :  "  The  meaning  of  this 
verse  has  been  differently  interpreted,  according  to 
explanation  given  to  the  verb  pashat.  Many  fol 
lowing  the  S>pfxr\a€  and  the  expansiis  est  of  the  LXX 
and  Jerome,  give  it  the  meaning,  to  spread  out  the 
wing  ;  whilst  Crcdner  (on  Joel,  p.  295),  Maurer, 
Ewald,  and  Hitzig,  take  it  in  the  sense  of  undrcos- 
ing  one's  self,  and  understand  it  as  relating  to  the 
sheddmg  of  t*he  horny  wing-sheaths  of  the  young 
locusts.  But  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  of  these 
explanations  can  be  grammatically  sustained.  Pa- 
shat never  means  anything  else  than  to  plunder, 
or  to  invade  with  plundering ;  not  even  in  such 
passages  as  Hos.  vii.  1  ;  1  Chron.  xiv.  9  and  13, 
which  Gesenius  and  Dietrich  quote  in  support  of 
the  meaning,  "  to  spread  ; "  and  the  meaning  forced 
upon  it  bv  Credner,  of  the  shedding  of  the  wing- 
sheaths  of  locusts,  is  perfectly  visionary,  and  has 
merely  been  invented  by  him  for  thepuipose  of  es- 
tablishing his  false  interpretation  of  the  different 
names  given  to  the  locusts  in  Joel  i.  4.  In  the  pa&- 
sage  before  us  we  cannot  understand  by  the  yeleh, 
which  "plunders  and  flies  away"  (pashat  vayya- 
oph),  the  innumerable  multitude  of  the  merchants 
of  Nineveh,  because  they  were  not  able  to  fly  away 
in  crowds  out  of  the  besieged  city.'    Moreover  th* 


36 


NAHUM. 


flying  away  of  the  merchants  would  be  rjuite  con- 
trary to  the  meaning  of  the  whole  description, 
which  does  not  promise  deliverance  from  danger 
oy  flight,  hut  threatens  destruction.  The  yelek  is 
rather  the  innumerable  army  of  the  enemy,  which 
plunders  everything,  and  liurries  away  with  its 
booty." 

The  statement  of  Keil  that  pashat  "  never  means 
anything  else  than  to  plunder,"  is  not  sufficiently 
guarded.  Compare  Lev.  vi.  4  ;  xvi.  23  ;  Cant.  v. 
3;  1  Sam.  xix.  24;  Ez.  xxvi.  16;  xliv.  19,  and 
Neh.  iv.  17.  A  man  does  not  plunder  his  clothes, 
when  he  takes  them  off.  —  C.  E.] 

Ver.  17.  Thy  crowned  heads,  the  vassal 
princes,  vrith  whose  aid  he  undertook  war,  are 
like  locusts,  thy  satraps  (an  Assyrian  word; 
comp.  Jer.  li.  27.  Ges.,  Thes.,  and  Strauss  ad  I.  — 

01s.,  sec.  198  c,  considers  also  "H^!?^?^  such;  the 

dageschfarte  euphonicum  in  the  3,   though  certainly 

unusual,  is  justified  by  the  analogy  of  tt^"lpJ3  (Ex. 
XV.  17),  like  swarms  of  locusts  (the  repetition  in- 
dicates the  numberless   multitude,  Ew.  sec.  313  ; 

"^2121  is  singular,  01s.,  sec.  216  d)  which  encamp 
in  the  walls  in  the  time  of  cold,  which  deprives 
them  of  the  power  of  flyiTig,  Hieron.  :  the  sun 
arises,  the  encampment  comes  to  an  end,  they  fly 
away ;  and  one  knows  not  the  place  where  they 
are.  The  catastrophe,  although  as  an  adversative 
apodosis  it  properh'  corresponds  to  15  c,  is  never- 
tiieless  described  in  immediate  ccfnnection  with  the 
))arenthetical  filling  up  of  the  picture  :  the  complete 
vanishing  of  the  forces  of  the  Assyrians,  which  could 
not  take  wing  in  the  cold,  in  the  calamity  assail- 
ing their  country,  but  wliich  assembled  in  Nineveh, 
is  compared  to  the  vanishing  of  a  swarm  of  locusts, 
which  alight  in  the  cool  of  the  night,  in  order  to 
continue  their  flight  in  the  morning.  They  have 
vanished  out  of  sight.  Compare  Zech.  i.  5;  Ps. 
ciii.  16.     Where  are  they  ? 

The  Concluding  Strophe,  ver.  18  f.,  answers  in  ele- 
giac strain :  Thy  shepherds,  those  who  were  ap- 
pointed chief  officers  of  the  array  (Mic.  v.  4  ff.) 
King  of  Assyria,  have  fallen  asleep,  the  sleep 
of  death  (Ps.  xiii.  4.  (3) ;  lxx^^.  6  (.5) :  thy  power- 
ful ones  are  Ijring  still  (comp.  ii.  6) .  Thy  people 
(on  the  construction  compaie  Ges.  sec.  146,  1)  are 
scattered  (comp.  ver.  17)  upon  the  mountains, 
and  no  one  gathers  them.  A  beautiful  contrast 
to  ii.  12. 

Ver.  19.  There  is  no  healing  of  thy  fracture, 
thy  ruin  (comp.  Prov.  xvi.  18),  thy  stroke  is 
deadly  (Jer.  xxx.  12).  And  no  one  grieves  for  it 
(comp.  ver.  7)  :  all  who  hear  tidings  of  thee 
(comp.  Is.  xxiii.  5  ;  Hab.  iii.  2)  clap  their  hands, 
(comp.  Zeph.  ii.  13  AT.)  for  over  whom  has  not 
thy  wickedness  passed  continually?  Comp. 
Jonah  i.  2.  The  wickedness  of  which  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  now  also  the  monuments  testify  : 
the  audacious  boast  of  cruelty  and  of  the  pitiless 
crushing  of  the  nations  exhibited  in  the  inscrip- 
tions :  in  the  sculptures,  the  rows  of  the  impaled, 
the  prisoners  through  whose  lips  rings  were  fast- 
ened, whose  eyes  were  put  out,  who  were  flayed 
alive.  Consequently  it  would  be  a  joy  to  all 
nations  tc  hear  the  voice  of  the  messengers  of  the 
tyrant  no  more  (ii.  14),  but  to  hear  that  of  the 
SMssengers  of  his  destruction. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  BTHICAL.l 

The  prophecy  of  Nahum  culminates  in  the  words 
directly  ascribed  to  God :  Behold  I  come  against 
thee.  Both  the  contending  powers,  the  plunder- 
ing world-power  and  the  just  avenger,  approach  in 
mutual  hostility.  One  must  perish  on  the  spot ; 
and  the  place  where  Nineveh  stood,  has  become 
void. 

God  is  called  in  this  contest  Jehovah  Sabaoth, 
the  Lord  of  Hosts.  This  is  not  merely  poetic  dlic- 
tion.  The  name,  which  is  not  used  in  the  Torah, 
is  the  usual  one  in  the  spiritual  conflicts  of  Israel 
against  heathenism,  which  were  fought  by  the 
prophets.  No  doubt  this  points  to  the  fact  that 
Sabaoth  is  not  to  be  interpreted  in  an  external  way 
as  has  been  usual,  so  as  to  understand  by  it,  with 
reference  to  Ex.  vii.  4 ;  xii.  41,  the  warriors  of 
Israel,  whom  God  led  forth  to  battle. 

The  name  enters  more  deeply  into  the  nature  of 
God .  If  that  were  the  meaning,  how  does  it  come, 
that  the  name  occurs,  neither  in  the  Pentateuch, 
which  is  acquainted  with  that  signification  of  hosts, 
nor  in  the  foreign  battles  in  the  time  of  the  Judges 
immediately  following  that  of  the  Pentateuch? 
The  "  hosts  "  are,  according  to  the  prevailing  mode 
of  speech,  the  host  of  heaven ;  the  stars  together 
with  tlie  celestial  spirits  gliding  over  them,  by  whom 
they  are  supposed  to  be  in  part  inhabited.  (Rodi- 
ger  in  Ges.,  Thes.,  1140  a).  [In  Tomus  Tertias 
of  Ges.  Thes.,  published  in  Leipzig,  1853,  the  ref- 
erence is  found  in  1146  a.  —  C.  E.]. 

To  [the  worship  of]  this  heavenly  host,  the 
most  perfect  form  of  the  Hither  Asiatic,  namely, 
of  the  Mesopotamian  heathenism,  was  devoted 
(Deut.  iv.  19  ;  xvii.  3).  This  highest  form  of  the 
worship  of  Nature  spread  powerfully,  and  pene- 
trated also  into  Israel,  when  it  came  in  contact 
with  the  world-powers  (2  Kings  xvii.  16;  xvii.  3). 
But  even  they  [the  hosts  of  heaven]  ai'e  under  the 
control  of  Jehovah  (Jer.  xxxi.  35),  for  He  created 
them  (Gen.  ii.  1)  ;  the  heavenly  powers  must  at 
his  command  assist  in  fighting  his  holy  battles 
(Judges  V.  20).  It  belonged  to  the  fimction  of  the 
prophets  to  press  this  truth  upon  the  conscience 
of  the  rebellious  people  (Jer.  viii.  2)  directly  under 
the  superior  earthly  power  of  the  star-worshippers, 
which  continued  to  loom  up  with  increasing  dark- 
ness. With  this  statement  corresponds  the  pro- 
phetical name  Jehovah  Elohe  Sabaoth,  who  is  the 
only  living  One,  and  who  is  also  Lord  over  the 
hosts  of  heaven.  In  harmony  with  this  is  the  fact 
that  the  name  seems  to  be  preferred,  where  the 
subject  treated  of  is  the  overthrow  of  the  heathen 
powers.    So  in  this  passage. 

God  is  a  God  of  life,  and  grants  to  the  nations 
their  life.  Therefore  He  kills  him,  who  has  made 
killing  his  business.  He  destroys  the  destroyer. 
The  time  is  coming  when  He  will  destroy  Anti-God, 
death  himself,  through  whom  the  cut-throats  of  the 
earth  have  their  power  (Is.  xxv.  8).  God  is  a 
long-suffering  God.  He  had  also  waited  in  Nin- 
eveh (i.  3,  compare  the  book  of  Jonah)  ;  but  it 
did  not  cease  from  its  robbery.  This  is  what  we 
might  expect,  for  the  root  is  poisoned :  blood 
guiltiness  springs  fi-om  idolatry.  In  the  land, 
where  the  worship  of  God  is  observed,  there  is 
always  a  remnant,  whose  intercession  delays  judg 
ment  (Am.  vii.) ;  and  who  cannot  perish  with  the 
wicked  (Ez.  xiv.  14).  But  Nineveh,  the  world- 
power,  is  "  all  deceit " ;  it  must,  therefore,  entirely 

1  IReichsgedanken,  sae  not*,  Com  od  Jonah,  p.  SD  —  0 
■.1 


CHAPTER  ni. 


37 


perish.  Not  on  account  of  idolatry  in  itself  would 
God  have  destroyed  it,  otherwise  He  would  not 
have  sent  Jonah :  his  justice  waited  for  the  out- 
break of  murder.  But  after  this  has  infected  the 
whole  city,  after  all  its  works  have  assumed  the 
known  heathen  character,  to  put  itself  in  the  place 
of  Gor  and  to  trample  under  foot  the  universal 
revelation  of  God,  that  deceit  and  murder  are  sins  ; 
after  it  had  thus  identified  itself  with  the  impious 
principle,  its  destruction  must  come. 

For  God's  judgment  is  revelation.  In  the  fall 
the  entire  ignominy  concealed  by  external  glory, 
the  rottenness  of  the  powerful  tree,  the  utterly 
forlorn  condition,  in  which  it  for  a  long  time  already 
internally  stood,  whilst  it  was  externally  pressed, 
come  to  light.  Then  indeed  the  more  unexpected 
the  blow,  the  more  certain  :  the  nearer  it  advances, 
tlie  more  fearful  and  incurable. 

Beck  :  The  name  Sabaoth  represents  God 
{Deut.  X.  17;  1  Cor.  viii.  5  ;  1  Tim.  vi.  1.5),  who 
goes  as  a  man  of  war,  against  his  and  his  people's 
enemies  (Ex.  xv.  3),  as  the  ruler  with  all  fullness 
of  power  even  within  the  highest  sphere  of  life. 
This  is  the  ruling  thought,  in  the  first  place,  in  the 
prayer  of  Hannah,  whose  subsequent  song  of 
praise  proves  how  her  heart  sujjported  itself  on  the 
might  and  strength  of  God  against  the  insolent 
power  of  the  enemy  ;  very  frequently  in  the  mouth 
of  David,  the  soldier  of  God ;  also  in  Solomon's, 
the  prince  of  peace ;  in  the  warlike  period  of  the 
kings,  when  the  defenseless,  enervated  kingdom 
looked  around  for  powerful  allies,  etc. 

Compare  also  Oehler  in  Herzog's  Real-Encyc, 
xviii.  400  fT. 

HOMILETICAL. 

Chap.  ii.  12-iii.  7.  Hostility  against  God  cannot 
ht^maintained.     For  — 

1.  It  hinders  God's  work.  It  is  quarrelsome 
and  lawless,  but  the  world  was  made  for  peace,  for 
order,  and  for  life.  (ii.  12,  13  a,  14.) 

2.  It  accumulates  guilt,  but  God  is  a  judge. 
(13  b,  iii.  1  a.) 

3.  It  does  not  rest  until  it  has  poisoned  the 
whole  man  (and  the  entire  community)  and  made 
him  ripe  for  death,  (iii.  1  b.) 

4.  It  experiences  no  change  for  the  better,  (iii. 
ic.) 

5.  Its  effort  is  to  make  itself  equal  to  God,  and 
God  suffers  no  equal,  (iii.  4,  5.) 

6.  It  estranges  all  from  itself,  and  finds,  there- 
fore, neither  consolation  nor  intercession,  (iii.  7.) 

iii.  18-19.  There  is  no  delicerance  from  the  judg- 
ment of  God.     For  — 

1.  Even  the  mightiest  of  the  earth  are  as  locusts 
before  Him.  (iii.  8-11  ;  couip.  Is.  xl.  22.) 

2.  The  more  obstinately  they  resist,  the  more 
irresistible  is  the  judgment.  (12  fF.) 

3.  The  larger  and  more  numerous  they  are,  the 
more  utterly  will  they  be  destroyed.  (15  c  fF.) 

4.  The  time,  after  all,  is  coming,  when  God 
shall  be  all  in  all.  (18  f.) 

On  ii.  12.  God  knows  how  to  make  an  end  of 
the  greatest  distress,  in  such  a  way  as  to  astonish 
us. — Ver.  13.  As  it  comes  so  it  goes.  Unright- 
eous possessions  cannot  prosper. —  Ver.  14.  Even 
fire  and  sword  do  not  do  their  work  ^vithout  God. 
Where  the  voice  of  the  evangelists  (ii.  1 )  gains 
power,  the  voice  of  the  messengers  of  sin  becomes 
dumb 

iii.  1.  Where  there  is  still  only  a  spark  of  faith, 
.t  furnishes  us  with  hope  against  despair.  —  Ver. 
S  ff.     Where  a  carcass  is.  there  the  eagles  gather 


themselves  together.  —  Ver.  5.  The  greatest  power 
does  not  long  conceal  secret  shame.  The  more 
powerful  an  infamous  man  is  for  a  long  time,  the 
profounder  afterwards  is  his  contempt.  —  Ver.  6. 
God  will  make  a  gazing-stock,  to  be  gazed  at  by 
all,  of  him  who  delights  in  vain  pleasure.  —  Ver. 
7.  It  is  a  deplorable  state  of  misery,  when  a 
heartless  and  haughty  man  falls  into  misfortune- 
He  has  not  even  a  soul  which  laments  it.  Make 
to  yourselves  friends  of  the  unrighteous  Mam- 
mon. —  Ver.  8  ff.  Men  may  not  learii  prudence 
by  experience.  Ninety-nine  godless  persons  perish 
in  their  security,  and  the  hundredth  still  thinks 
that  his  case  is  a  special  one,  and  relies  on  the 
same  props,  which,  under  others,  have  been  irre- 
mediably broken.  —  Ver.  II.  The  prudent  man 
thinks  that  his  prudence  will  help  him  through 
everywhere.  But  when  God's  hand  comes  upon 
him,  even  the  most  prudent  is  bewildered,  so  that 
he  acts  like  a  drunken  man.  The  more  prudent 
derides  him,  and  soon  after  fares  the  same  way. 
To  him,  who  has  not  learned  to  use  everything, 
that  he  has,  in  the  earnest  service  of  God.  nothing 
is  of  any  advantage;  in  the  hour  of  decision  it  for- 
sakes him.  When  Christianity  came,  the  bul- 
warks of  heathen  wisdom  became  subservient  to 
it,  and  it  employed  them  against  the  heathen. 
This  is  a  hint  for  the  Church  in  all  times.  It  is 
always  important  to  assault  directly  the  strong- 
holds of  the  ungodly  :  they  cannot  stand.  He  who 
ventures  nothing  wins  nothing.  —  Ver.  14.  God 
does  not  need  to  wait  for  the  unguarded  moment 
of  his  enemy.  He  can  crush  him  in  the  midst  of 
his  preparation.  Wo  have  no  ocras'on  for  anx- 
iety, if  Rome  appears  to  be  externally  powerful.  — 
Ver.  15  fF.  Should  all  men  come  en  masse  to 
thwart  the  work  of  God,  they  would  still  be  like 
locusts  before  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth.  —  Ver.  18  f. 
All  flesh  perishes,  but  the  Word  of  God  endures 
forever.  Alexander  and  Epicurus  sleep,  but  Na- 
hum  and  Paul  are  living.  When  Jesus  was  in 
agony  and  his  disciples  slept  and  fled,  then  He 
bore  the  punishment,  which  was  laid  upon  the 
world.  But  by  his  wounds  we  n  re  made  whole ;  the 
wounds  of  the  world  are  incurable.  A  wicked 
man  hurts  no  one  so  much  as  himself. 

LoTHER  :  On  iii.  1  f.  God  is  very  long-Luffering 
and  exercises  great  patience  with  our  sins,  whilst 
they  are  concealed.  But  if  we  are  so  utterly  in- 
fatuated that  such  sins  become  notorious,  and  we 
continue  in  them  without  reserve,  just  as  if  we 
were  acting  well  by  such  a  eourse,  then  He  cannot 
look  upon  tliem,  liut  He  punishes  them.  —  Ver.  4. 
I  hold  that  the  prophet  uses  here,  in  accordance 
with  the  usage  of  Scripture  elsewhere,  whoredom 
for  idolatry,  godless  conduct,  and  contempt.  As 
if  he  would  say  :  Thy  godless  conduct  is  so  great, 
and  thou  hast  gone  so  far  in  it,  that  thou  hast  also 
associated  many  nations  with  thee.  For  this  pur- 
pose also  the  King  of  Assyria  had  many  godless 
teachers,  whom  he  kept  and  supported,  that  they 
might  increase  such  an  ungodly  way  of  life.  He 
uses  the  word  vendidit  [sold]  as  Paul  does  in  Rom. 
vii.  14.  Nineveh  enticed  the  nations  to  herself  and 
was  the  cause  of  other  heathen  falling  into  such 
wicked  practices  and  perishing.  —  Ver.  18  f.  The 
God,  who  delivered  Judah,  is  even  the  same,  who 
has  said  :  not  a  hair  shall  fall  from  our  head  with- 
out his  will. 

Starke  :  ii.  12  f.  The  powerful  should  prove 
themselves  like  lions  in  good,  but  not  in  evil.  It 
is  a  vain  care,  when  parents  are  anxious  only  to 
he  able  to  leave  behind  them  preat  estates  for  theii 


88 


NAHUM. 


children.  —  Ver.  14.  As  one  treats  the  children  of 
other  people,  in  the  same  way  must  he  generally 
expect  his  own  to  be  treated.  —  Chap.  iii.  ver.  1. 
Where  one  does  not  cease  from  sinning,  there  God 
also  cannot  cease  from  punishing.  Unpunished 
blood-guilt  accelerates  the  destruction  of  a  coun- 
try. —  Ver.  5.  Because  the  godless  very  soon  and 
easily  forget  the  di\ane  threatenings,  they  must  be 
often  repeated.  The  children  of  the  world  know 
how  to  conceal  artfully  their  knavish  tricks  for  a 
long  time,  but  God  uncovers  them  to  their  very 
great  disgrace. —  Ver.  7.  A  true  fiiend  is  known 
in  trouble  Great  rivers,  good  fields,  safe  harbors, 
gold  and  possessions  do  not  insure  the  prosperity 
of  a  city.  Legitimate  alhances  are  allowable  and 
useful  (Gen.  xiv.  13,  xxi.  27 ;  1  Kings  v.  12),  but 
unrighteous  alliances  are  destructive.  —  Ver.  10. 
When  God  punishes  crimes  He  does  not  regard  the 
person.  Servitude  and  captivity  are  often  more 
bitter  than  death.  The  sins  of  parents  are  often 
^-isited  upon  their  children.  —  Ver.  11.  If  a  ca- 
lamity is  preached,  one  should  not  take  refuge  in 
fortresses,  but  in  God,  and  exercise  true  repent- 
ance. The  pious  receive  from  the  hand  of  God 
the  cup  of  salvation  and  of  joy  (Ps.  xxiii.  5),  the 
ungodly  the  cup  of  wrath.  —  Ver.  12.  When  the 
best  fortifications  are  taken  with  little  trouble,  then 
we  ought  much  more,  in  that  case,  to  acknowledge 
the  finger  of  God. — Ver.  13.  That  which  is 
built  by  the  hand  of  man,  the  hand  of  man  can 
also  destroy.  To  be  of  good  courage  in  trouble  is 
also  a  gift  of  God,  and  no  man  can  give  it  to  him- 
self. 

Pfaff  :  On  iii.  4.  To  sin  ourselves  certainly 
works  damnation ;  but  to  lead  others  into  it  in- 
creases incomparably  more  the  punishment.  — 
Ver.  7.  The  godless  find  consolation  nowhere ; 
fDr  God,  whom  they  have  forsaken,  is  the  only 
source  of  all  true  and  abiding  consolation.  —  Ver. 
12.  When  God's  judgments  come,  they  come  with 
power,  and  they  cannot  be  prevented  by  any  hu- 
man foresight 

lliEGER  :  On  ii.  12  ff.  God  laughs  at  the  wicked, 
whilst  they  are  still  powerful.  Nineveh  was  still 
in  its  bloom,  when  He  asked  :  Where  is  now  the 
dwelling-place  of  the  lions  (  Now  be  wise,  there- 
fore, ye  kings,  and  be  instructed,  ye  judges  of  the 
sarth.  —  Chap.  iii.  ver.  1  S".  Before,  the  eye  was 
never  satisfied  with  objects,  which,  in  a  luxurious 
L-ity,  were  arranged  so  as  to  prove  allurements  to  all 
kinds  of  pleasure.  But  after  a  little  while  what  an 
entirely  different  spectacle  does  it  exhibit,  when 
everything  that  fills  the  ear  with  terror,  and  the 
heart  with  the  feeling  of  the  wrath  of  God,  displays 
taelf.  —  Ver.  5  S.     It  is  here,  as  i*  king,  city,  and 


kingdom  stood  themselves  before  the  judgment-sea 
of  the  Lord  of  hosts  and  were  obliged  to  listen  to 
the  decree  of  wrath  proceeding  from  it,  with  all 
the  appertaining  records.  What  artifices  does  one 
often  need  in  civil  government,  in  a  community, 
in  a  family,  to  conceal  the  real  condition,  to  cover 
internal  losses,  in  order  to  maintain  external  show  ? 
What  will  it  be,  when  the  Lord  shall  uncover  all 
this  low  dealing  and  exhibit  everything  in  its  na- 
kedness 1  When  the  hand  of  God  comes  upon 
one,  then  men  begin  to  judge  and  to  speak  in  a 
quite  different  way.  On  the  part  of  men  there 
may  indeed  be  much  unauthorized  joy  at  the  mis- 
fortunes of  another,  but  God,  in  the  mean  time 
however,  uses  it  for  his  punishment.  —  Ver.  13  ff. 
How  much  ado  is  made  when  commerce  and  trade 
thrive,  and  when  rich  people,  with  great  wealth, 
go  to  live  in  a  city  or  country.  But  when  the 
guiding  principle  of  the  fear  of  God  is  wanting, 
many  strange  sins  are  introduced  along  with  them, 
and  when  those  rich  men  should  advise  and  help, 
they  flee  away.  Also  under  the  pretext  of  the 
common  good  they  look  out  for  themselves,  and 
they  are  careful  always  to  flee  away  with  that 
which  they  aimed  to  procure.  —  Ver.  18ff.  How 
many  severe  means  has  the  Lord  been  obliged  to 
employ  to  prevail  upon  men  to  rely  no  longer  upon 
earth.  AVho  then  would  stiflen  his  neck  against 
Him,  who  has  in  such  a  signal  manner  broken 
others  before  us  ! 

HiERONYMUs  :  On  ii.  14.  0  Nineveh,  everything 
wnich  is  predicted  thou  wilt  suffer  from  no  other 
than  me. 

ScHLiEK  :  iii.  4.  By  whoredom  unfaithfulness 
toward  Jehovah,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  is  not 
intended  ;  but  the  treacherous  friendship  of  the 
great  metropolis,  by  which,  like  a  prostitute,  she 
allured  others  to  her  and  ensnared  them  by  her 
witchcrafts,  for  the  purpose  of  binding  them  with 
land  and  people  to  herself,  and  of  deriving  advan- 
tage from  them.  It  is  the  treacherous  friendship 
of  the  great  metropolis,  which  makes  herself  the 
centre  of  the  nations,  on  which  all  the  world  is 
dependent. 

ScHMiEDER :  This  characteristic  recurs  (Rev. 
xviii.  3)  in  the  description  of  the  spiritual  Babylon, 
which,  by  the  fullness  of  the  lust  of  the  eye  and 
the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  of  all  earthly  possessions, 
produces  the  most  excessive  voluptuousness,  and 
by  every  worldly  charm  and  allurement  turns 
away  the  hearts  of  men  from  God. 

HiERONTMUs  :  Thou  hast  entangled  all  nat'one 
in  thy  net,  I  must  then  certainly  come  tc  deslzcT 
thee. 


Date  Due 


^1  JY20-55 


